LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 


q     B 
Ml  31m 
cop. 3 


I.H.S. 


Xke  Life  and  Works 
of 

Robert  McCormicK 

Incluaing 

His  Invention  or  the  Reaper 


By 

R.  Hall  McCormick 

and 

James  Hall  Snielas 

1910 


PREFACE 

We  have  long  contemplated  writing  and  compiling  a  history  of  our 
Grandfather,  Robert  McCormick,  and  thus  putting  on  record  all  the 
known  facts  concerning  his  life,  his  work,  and  his  inventions,  and  in 
connection  therewith  furnishing  all  the  evidence,  long  in  our  posses- 
sion, relating  to  his  invention  of  the  McCormick  Reaper,  but  have 
postponed  it  from  time  to  time,  until  now,  by  reason  of  the  applica- 
tion that  has  been  made  for  the  enrollment  of  his  name  in  the  "Hall  of 
Fame,"  it  becomes  necessary  to  furnish  such  information;  therefore, 
we  have  carefully  taken  up  the  subject,  and  on  the  succeeding  pages 
will  be  found  all  the  facts  we  have  at  hand  concerning  Robert  Mc- 
Cormick, together  with  copies  of  letters,  affidavits  and  statements  in 
our  possession  bearing  on  the  question  of  his  various  inventions,  but 
principally  and  first  of  all  relating  to  his  great  and  inestimable  in- 
vention of  the  Reaper,  and  his  earning  thereby  a  right  to  an  enduring 
memory,  and  a  place  forever  in  the  Hall  of  Fame. 

R.  HALL  Mccormick 

JAMES  HALL  SHIELDS 


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ANCESTRY 

Robert  McCormick  was  descended  from  that  sturdy  stock  of 
Ulster  men  who  came  over  from  Scotland  and  peopled  the  north  of 
Ireland  in  the  reign  of  James  I.  of  Scotland,  and  by  their  industry 
and  thrift  they  turned  that  wilderness  into  the  most  prosperous  de- 
pendency of  the  British  Crown.  They  made  themselves  thereby 
so  much  felt  by  the  English  in  manufacturing  and  other  industries, 
that  they  caused  the  government  to  levy  heavy  and  repressive  taxes 
on  them  for  the  protection  of  the  Englishmen  across  the  channel. 
The  result  of  this  was  that  great  numbers  of  those  people  emigrated 
to  America,  and  a  very  large  per  cent  of  them,  after  landing  in  Phila- 
delphia, betook  themselves  to  the  frontier,  and  many  of  them  settled 
west  of  the  Susquehanna  River,  before  the  Indians  ceded  the  land  to 
the  Penns  in  1736. 


THOMAS   McCORMICK 

the  grandfather  of  Robert  McCormick,  was  descended  from  that 
Scotch  Irish  stock,  to  whom  reference  has  been  m.ade.  He  came  to 
America  in  1735  and  settled  east  of  the  Susquehanna  in  the  vicinity 
of  Harrisburg,  Pa.  In  1742  he  took  out  a  warrant  from  the  Penns 
for  a  large  tract  of  land  located  in  Paxtang  Township,  and  later  he 
removed  to  E.  Pennsboro  Township,  Cumberland  County,  Pa., 
where  he  and  his  wife  purchased  two  hundred  acres  of  land. 

Before  coming  to  America,  about  the  year  1728,  Thomas  McCor- 
mick married  Elizabeth  Caruth,  a  daughter  of  Adam  Caruth,  who 
afterwards  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  east  of  the  Susquehanna,  in 
Hopewell  Township,  Dauphin  County,  Pa.  This  Thomas  McCor- 
mick had  three  brothers,  viz.,  Hugh,  John  and  Samuel,  who  also 
came  to  this  country  about  the  same  time  Thomas  did,  and  became 
large  land  owners  and  prominent  pioneers  in  the  same  part  of 
Pennsylvania. 

Thomas  McCormick  died  about  1760,  and  his  widow  died  in 
1766,  leaving  a  family  of  five  sons  and  one  daughter. 


ROBERT  McCORMICK 

the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  biography,  was  the  fifth  son  of 
Thomas  and  Elizabeth  Caruth  McCormick,  and  was  born  in  the 
vicinity  of  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  in  1738.  He  was  a  farmer,  and  citizen 
of  Cumberland  County,  Pa.,  where  he  and  his  two  brothers  took  out 
warrants  for  a  large  tract  of  land,  near  what  is  now  Mifflin,  in 
Juniatta  County,  Pa.,  and  resided  there  until  1779,  when  he  sold 
his  property  and  moved  with  his  family  to  Rockbridge  County, 
Va.,  and  there  he  purchased  the  farm  on  which  his  son  Robert  was 
born.  He  served  his  country  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  was 
wounded  in  the  battle  of  Guilford  Court  House.  He  was  a  weaver  by 
trade,  as  well  as  a  farmer,  and  was  a  well  known  and  well  to  do  citizen 
in  the  community  wherein  he  lived.  He  was  an  Elder  in  the  Presby- 
terian Church  and  showed  by  his  character  and  life  that  he  was  a 
worthy  descendant  of  his  covenanter  ancestors. 

Robert  McCormick  married  in  1770,  Martha  Sanderson,  a 
daughter  of  George  and  a  granddaughter  of  Alexander  Sanderson, 
who  were  both  well  to  do  and  well  known  farmers  of  Cumberland 
County,  Pa.,  their  farms  being  located  near  Carlisle  and  not  very 
far  distant  from  the  McCormick  homestead.  He  died  in  Rockbridge 
County,  Va.,  October  12,  1818,  Martha,  his  wife,  preceded  him  by 
fourteen  years. 

Robert  and  Martha  McCormick  left  a  family  of  four  sons  and 
two  daughters,  of  whom  the  subject  of  this  biography  was  the 
youngest. 

ROBERT  McCORMICK 

the  youngest  son  of  Robert  and  Martha  Sanderson  McCormick,  and 
grandson  of  Thomas  and  Elizabeth  Caruth  McCormick,  was  born 
June  8,  1780,  in  a  log  house  on  his  father's  plantation,  Walnut  Grove, 
Rockbridge  County,  Virginia. 

Of  him,  his  home,  his  life,  his  occupation,  his  executive  and  busi- 
ness ability,  his  inventive  and  mechanical  genius,  and  his  family  af- 
fairs, his  daughter,  Mary  Caroline  McCormick  Shields,  as  recorded 
in  her  memorials,  the  original  copy  of  which  is  in  the  possession  of 
her  son  states : 

My  father  and  mother  were  near  the  s.ame  age,  were  exactly  the  same  height — five 
feet,  eight  inches  tall.  Father  has  often  told  me  that  ma  was  the  prettiest  woman  in  all 
that  country  when  a  young  girl,  and  there  were  those  who  knew  her  when  she  was 
young  who  have  equalled  my  father  in  praise  of  her  beauty  and  who  also  talked  to  me 
of  her  bright,  cheerful  disposition. 


Grandfather  Hall  gave  to  my  motlier  when  she  was  married  property  which  he 
estimated  at  $i,ooo,  and  father,  as  I  suppose,  was  not  worth  much  more  than  the 
amount  given  to  ma  by  her  father,  and  then  lie  was  in  debt  to  the  heirs  of  grand- 
father McCormick  for  their  interest  in  the  farm.  The  first  misfortune  that  ciune  to 
them  was  a  few  years  after  their  marriage,  the  burning  of  a  large  new  barn  which  had 
been  finished  just  in  time  to  store  away  tlieir  whole  year's  hard  earnings,  all  the  wheat 
and  other  grains,  also  the  hay,  which  was  needed  for  the  winter  feeding  of  their  stock, 
and  two  of  their  best  horses.  A  bad  man  in  the  neighborhood  was  tried  in  court  for 
setting  fire  to  the  barn,  but,  while  no  one  doubted  his  guilt,  the  evidence  was  not  quite 
sufficient  to  convict  him. 

Father  was  anxious  to  provide  each  of  his  sons  with  a  farm  so  as  to  have  them 
settled  near  to  him,  so  he  bought  a  farm  about  a  mile  and  a  half  south  of  us  on  which 
was  a  saw  mill ;  he  being  a  natural  mechanic  himself  attended  this  saw  mill  a  great  deal 
and  enjoyed  it.  He  would  walk  to  it  in  the  morning,  it  being  down  hill  all  the  way, 
and  ma  would  send  his  horse  for  him  in  the  evening,  he  having  taken  his  lunch  with 
him,  and  he  always  had  other  work  carried  on  on  this  farm  as  well  as  the  farm  on 
which  we  lived. 

The  next  investment  father  made  was  in  buying  a  farm  about  nine  miles  west  of  us 
on  which  there  was  also  a  good  saw  mill  and  this  farm  father  purchased  as  well  as  the 
one  he  had  bought  previously  on  account  of  the  south  river  running  through  it,  which 
would  enable  its  owner  to  have  any  kind  of  manufacturing  establishment,  the  motive 
power  being  abundant  and  inexpensive. 

In  the  winter  of  1830  and  '31  there  was  a  great  deal  of  talk  and  a  great  deal  in 
the  papers  on  the  subject  of  raising  hemp.  There  was  only  one  thing  that  seemed  to 
prevent  its  being  made  a  very  profitable  product  by  farmers,  and  that  was  the  difficulty 
of  working  it.  My  father  went  to  work  and  invented  a  hemp  break  and  a  horse  power 
by  which  it  was  operated,  and  in  the  fall  of  '31  I  saw  that  machine  in  operation,  break- 
ing hemp,  and  I  never  saw  anything  perform  its  work  more  beautifully;  it  was  cer- 
tainly a  perfect  success.  In  the  fall  of  '31  Brother  Cyrus  went  to  Kentucky  to  intro- 
duce this  machine,  as  hemp  was  more  extensively  cultivated  in  Kentucky  than  \  irginia. 
Brother  Cyrus  remained  in  Kentucky  through  the  winter.  The  trip  did  not  amount  to 
anything  but  it  cost  father  a  good  deal  of  money.  Father  never  did  anything  more  with 
the  hemp  break.  I  remained  at  school  at  the  Rev.  James  Morrison's  until  the  last  of 
March,  1832.  The  first  of  May,  '32,  father  took  me  to  school  to  Staunton,  and  I  was 
accompanied  by  four  other  girls  from  our  church,  Cynthia  Morrison  and  Margwet  Mc- 
Nutt,  who  had  been  my  roommates  during  the  previous  winter,  and  then  Margaret  Rice 
McNutt  and  Ann  Eliza  Houston. 

In  June  Brother  Cyrus  came  down  to  Staunton  to  see  me,  and  I  remember  how 
overjoyed  I  was  to  see  him,  as  I  had  not  seen  him  since  the  day  he  left  for  Kentucky 
and  he  had  not  returned  when  I  left  home  for  school.  Brother  Cyrus  returned  home 
that  night  and  I  did  not  see  any  of  the  family  again  until  the  first  week  in  July. 

Being  brought  up  in  the  countrj-  where  my  companions  were  chiefly  my  father  and 
mother,  my  brother  and  sisters,  my  attachment  for  my  home  was  verj'  great,  and  Mr. 
Thacher,  who  was  principal  of  the  Seminar}',  gave  us  a  week  of  vacation  beginning  ist 
of  July.  I  remember  how  happy  I  was  to  get  home  and  our  home  was  a  cheerful,  happy 
home. 

While  I  was  at  home  a  young  gentleman  from  Staunton,  a  brother  of  a  very  inti- 
mate friend  and  schoolmate  of  mine,  called  to  see  me,  and  as  we  sat  in  the  parlor  ma 
came  in  and  asked  us  to  walk  wnth  her  to  the  field  back  of  the  orchard  where  my  father 
was  tr)ing  a  machine  which  he  had  invented  to  cut  wheat.  Father  and  ma  and  others 
present  were  delighted  with  the  operation  of  the  reaper.  This  machine  had  a  reel  which 
drew  the  wheat  in  and  the  wheat  was  cut  by  a  vibrating  sickle  and  fell  on  the  platform. 
A  man  walking  along  beside  this  platform  raked  off  the  wheat  in  bundles  the  size  ready 
for  binding.  This  was  in  the  summer  of  1832;  I  was  then  a  few  months  over  fifteen 
years  of  age.  The  last  of  September  my  school  closed  and,  although  I  was  anxious  to 
go  to  school  longer,  father  thought  he  could  not  afford  the  expense. 


My  father  had  been  experimenting  for  several  years  with  his  machine  to  reap 
wheat  and  regretted  each  year  that  the  shortness  of  the  time  of  harvest  prevented  his 
experimenting  as  much  as  he  desired  to  do.  In  the  harvest  of  1833  I  saw  this  reaper 
cut  wheat  again  in  the  field  near  to  Mr.  John  Weirs.  I  walked  to  the  field  with  a 
gentleman  who  was  stopping  for  a  few  days  at  my  father's.  At  that  time  and  at  my 
age  I  did  not  think  much  about  the  value  of  machinery ;  I  did  not  realize  as  I  might 
have  done  the  great  invention  and  the  great  natural  inventive  genius  of  my  dearly  be- 
loved father.  As  Cousin  William  McCormick,  who  lived  v.'ith  us  for  several  years, 
about  this  time,  said,  My  old  uncle  never  failed  in  anything  he  ever  undertook. 
Father  invented  several  machines  which  he  built  at  home, — made  money  by  building 
and  selling  them,  but  never  patented.  Brother  Cyrus  was  the  first  born  of  my  parents; 
he  was  a  smart  boy  and  always  very  much  indulged  by  my  mother.  It  seemed  to  me 
that  ma  thought  his  opinion  on  every  subject  was  just  right,  and  if  she  differed  with 
him  on  any  subject  he  never  rested  until  he  had  convinced  her  that  he  was  right. 
Whatever  Brother  Cyrus  wanted,  if  he  could  not  get  his  way  from  father,  he  always 
went  to  ma  and  through  her  he  was  generally  successful.  Brother  Cyrus  never  liked  to 
work  on  the  farm  and  I  remember  when  I  was  about  twelve  years  of  age  of  his  having 
a  great  desire  to  be  rich  and  of  his  trying  to  find  some  means  of  accumulating  money, 
not  liking  the  life  of  a  farmer.  Ma  persuaded  Father  to  give  the  invention  of  the 
reaper  to  Brother  Cyrus,  and  it  took  a  great  deal  of  persuasion  too.  Ma's  argument 
with  father  was,  'I  am  sure  I  would  rather  give  the  honor  of  the  invention  to  my  son 
than  to  have  it  myself.'  Father  said,  'but  I  owe  it  equally  to  the  other  children.'  Ma 
replied:  Cyrus  has  promised  me  that  if  the  reaper  is  made  a  success  all  the  children 
shall  be  interested  in  it  and  I  know  he  will  keep  his  word. 

(Signed)   Mary  Caroline  Shields. 

Robert  McCormick  was  a  man  of  very  great  energy,  and  deter- 
mination of  cliaracter,  but  withal  of  a  most  kind  and  generous  dis- 
position, and  was  very  highly  esteemed  as  an  upright,  reliable  citizen, 
a  man  of  high  moral  worth,  and  one  whose  word  was  as  good  as  his 
bond.  He  was  not  a  communicative  man  but  kept  his  business  and 
purposes  pretty  much  to  himself. 

When  advised  by  his  lawyer  (The  Hon.  John  Letcher,  afterwards 
Governor  of  Va.)  at  one  time  when  in  financial  trouble  (brought 
about  through  the  rascality  of  his  partner)  that  he  could  legally 
evade  paying  debts  that  were  pressing  him,  by  putting  his  property 
out  of  his  hands,  his  reply  was  No;  I  would  rather  die  and  leave  my 
children  without  a  cent,  than  it  should  ever  be  said  that  their  father 
had  done  a  dishonest  act. 

Throughout  his  life  he  took  great  pleasure  in  the  acquirement  of 
historical  and  scientific  knowledge.  He  was  very  fond  of  astronomy. 
He  subscribed  to  the  leading  magazines  of  the  day,  and  kept  himself 
well  posted  in  all  that  was  transpiring  about  him. 

He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  mechanical  genius,  and  seldom  failed 
to  accomplish  what  he  undertook.  Having  blacksmith  and  carpenter 
shops  of  his  own,  and  being  himself  naturally  a  good  workman  with 
almost  any  kind  of  tools,  it  was  no  hard  matter  for  him  to  make  what- 
ever he  desired  of  either  wood  or  iron. 


HIS  FIRST  REAPER 

The  first  record  of  Robert  McCormick's  endeavors  in  the  line  of 
invention  was  in  the  construction  of  a  reaping  machine  about  the 
year  1809  or  10.  But  although  many  of  the  principals  of  that  ma- 
chine were  substantially  the  same  as  those  of  chief  importance  in 
nearly  all  of  the  present  reaping  machines,  nevertheless,  it  was  too 
crude  and  imperfect  to  be  a  success.  Again  in  the  period  between  1816 
and  1826,  he  was  known  to  have  given  much  time  and  thought  to  the 
construction  of  another  machine  or  machines  for  cutting  wheat,  and 
in  outline  and  general  form,  a  machine  which  he  built  during  that 
period  was  like  the  two  wheeled  reaper  which  afterwards  became 
an  accepted  standard  type.  The  description  of  this  machine  as  given 
by  Leander  McCormick  was  as  follows: 

It  had  two  wheels  as  carriers,  with  gearing,  a  cutting  apparatus,  and  platform 
to  receive  the  grain  in  the  rear  of  cutting  apparatus.  The  cutters,  however,  were  sta- 
tionary and  curved.  The  machine  had  vertical  reels  (very  similar  to  the  vertical  reels 
used  at  the  present  day)  to  sweep  the  grain  across  the  cutters,  and  when  cut,  the  grain 
was  delivered  on  a  platform  in  the  rear  of  the  cutters  and  with  an  endless  apron  carried 
across  the  platform  and  delivered  to  one  side  of  the  machine.  The  horses  walked  along 
at  the  side  of  the  grain,  drawing  the  machine,  being  attached  to  the  same  by  shafts  or  a 
pole.  This  machine,  like  its  predecessor,  on  account  of  vital  defects  was  not  a  success, 
but  had  the  main  features  that  are  used  in  the  construction  of  all  grain  and  grass  cut- 
ting machines  of  the  present  day.  The  parts  of  this  machine  were  for  many  years 
stored  away  in  the  loft  of  the  old  Malt  House,  on  the  home  farm,  and  were  familiar 
objects  to  those  about  the  farm. 

THE  FIRST  SUCCESSFUL  REAPER 

Robert  McCormick's  daughter  Mary  Caroline  has  stated  many 
times  that  her  father  invented  and  built  the  first  successful  wheat  cut- 
ting machine.  That  that  machine  was  constructed  and  operated  on 
his  farm  in  1831,  32  and  33.  That  she  witnessed  these  machines  of  his 
own  invention  and  construction  cut  wheat  in  1832  and  1833,  success- 
fully. That  her  cousin  William  Steele  McCormick,  and  her  brothers, 
Cyrus  and  Leander  and  a  man  named  Sam  Hite  worked  with  her 
father  in  his  shops,  building  reapers,  and  other  machinery. 

The  following  description  of  Robert  McCormick's  Reaping 
Machine  as  constructed  by  him  in  1831  and  1832  was  dictated  by 
Leander  J.  McCormick  and  was  approved  by  Mary  Caroline  Shields 
and  is  further  vouched  for  by  Wm.  Steele  McCormick  and  numerous 
witnesses: 

In  its  main  features  this  machine  embodied  the  vital  principles  of  all  successful 
grain  cutting  machinery  of  the  present  day.  It  was  drawn  by  two  horses  that  walked 
in  front  of  the  main  frame,  and  close  to  the  standing  grain.     It  had  one  main  driving 


wheel  in  the  main  frame,  and  a  grain  wheel  at  the  outer  end  of  the  platform.  It  had 
a  cutter  bar  attached  to  and  back  of  which  was  the  platform  on  which  the  grain  fell. 
The  grain  was  cut  by  a  vibrating  sickle  and  drawn  in  to  the  sickle  and  cast  down  upon 
the  platform  by  a  revolving  overhanging  reel,  which  had  slats  or  ribs  which  dipped  into 
the  grain  in  front  of  the  sickle.  The  grain  divider  of  this  machine  was  a  long  pointed 
piece  of  wood  extending  som.e  five  feet  forward  of  the  cutter  bar,  with  an  upright  post 
some  ten  inches  forward  of  the  sickle,  to  support  the  grain  end  of  the  reel.  The  entire 
side  of  the  machine,  from  the  point  of  the  divider  named,  to  the  rear  corner  of  the  plat- 
form, and  across  the  back  of  the  platform,  was  surrounded  with  an  upright  canvass, 
about  three  feet  in  width.  The  grain  was  raked  off  at  the  side  in  bundles  by  a  man  who 
walked  beside  the  machine.  The  driver  did  not  ride  on  the  machine  but  on  one  of  the 
norses  that  drew  it.  Robert  McCormick  manufactured  the^e  machines  from  year  to 
year  on  his  own  home  farm  until  the  date  of  his  death. 

In  1834  or  5,  there  were  three  of  these  machines  built,  one  of 
which  was  sold  to  John  Umphries.  About  a  year  later  there  were 
seven  machines  built,  several  of  which  were  sold.  In  1840  Abraham 
Smith,  of  Rockingham  County,  bought  a  machine. 

In   1844  there  were  25  built. 

In   1845  there  were  50  built. 

In   1846  there  were  75  built. 

In  the  year's  business  of  1846,  Robert  McCormick  gave  to  his  son 
Leander  J.  McCormick  a  one-third  interest.  It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
Mr.  McCormick  continued  to  be  actively  engaged  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  his  reaping  machines  until  his  death  in  1846,  and  his  last 
will  and  testament  dated  June  22,  1846,  shows  that  he  left  his  two 
daughters  each  the  profits  on  ten  machines  that  were  sold  that  year, 
and  that  his  son  Cyrus  was  to  be  paid  fifteen  dollars  on  each  machine 
sold  the  same  year. 

Under  the  subsequent  heading  of  ROBERT  McCORMICK  the 
Inventor  of  the  McCormick  Reaper,  Review  of  the  Evidence  in 
proof  thereof,  will  be  found  fuller  details  in  regard  to  his  invention, 
together  with  all  testimony  extant  on  the  subject. 

OTHER  INVENTIONS  OF 
ROBERT  McCORMICK 

The  following  information  is  compiled  from  statements  made  by 
Leander  J.  McCormick  and  Mary  Caroline  McCormick  Shields: 

In  the  winter  of  1830-1,  there  was  a  great  deal  of  talk  and  much  in  the  news- 
papers on  the  subject  of  raising  hemp.  Only  one  thing  seemed  to  be  in  the  way  of  its 
becoming  a  very  profitable  product,  and  that  was  the  difficulty  of  cheaply  and  profit- 
ably reducing  the  fiber  to  its  required  marketable  shape.  Acting  on  this  seeming  de- 
mand, Robert  McCormick  invented  a  very  ingenious  and  perfect  working  hemp  break, 
and  in  connection  with  it  a  horse  power,  by  which  it  was  worked,  and  in  the  fall  of 
1 83 1,  he  operated  it,  and  it  was  pronounced  a  perfect  success.  He  also  invented  another 
machine  for  cleaning  the  hemp  when  broken.     The  excitement  over  hemp  raising,  how- 


ever,  died  out,  the  demand  for  the  machines  never  amounted  to  much,  althou^li  a  num- 
ber of  them  were  built  and  sold,  one  or  two  being  sold  in  Kentucky  by  his  son  Cyrus, 
whom  he  sent  there  in  the  fall  of  i8ji  to  introduce  them,  as  hemp  was  cultivated  more 
extensively  in  Kentucky  than  in  Virginia. 

Mr.  McCormick  in\entcd  and  manufactured  a  very  ingenious  threshing  machine, 
which  had  a  vertical  shaft,  through  which  arms  were  framed,  and  on  which  was  a  rim 
or  wheel,  of  about  five  feet  in  diameter,  having  a  plain  on  its  top  surface  on  which  bars 
were  made  fast  to  form  beaters;  over  these  bars  was  suspended  a  stationary  section,  on 
the  under  side  of  which  there  were  bars,  between  which  and  those  on  the  plain  of  the 
wheel  below  the  grain  was  threshed.  He  also  had  in  connection  with  this  thresher 
a  horse  power  of  peculiar  construction,  which  consisted  of  a  ring  or  platform  of  logs 
about  thirty  feet  in  diameter,  on  which  was  a  roller  about  fifteen  feet  long,  extending 
from  the  center  over  the  platform ;  the  outer  end  of  this  roller  was  perhaps  two  feet  in 
diameter,  and  was  pivoted  in  a  center  post,  which  post  revolved  by  the  turning  of  the 
roller.  On  the  inner  end  of  this  roller  was  a  large  band  wheel,  and  on  the  top  of  the 
center  post  was  a  pulley.  The  belt  from  the  band  wheel  had  its  direction  changed  to 
the  pulley  above  by  the  use  of  intermediate  pulleys.  With  this  machine  he  afterwards 
used  bevel  gearing. 

He  also  built  a  clover  sheller  of  stone,  resembling  an  ordinary  mill  somewhat,  but 
never  did  anything  with  it  except  for  his  own  use. 

He  also  invented  and  made  a  blacksmith  bellows,  which  was  of  a  tub  form,  and  of 
which  he  built  and  sold  a  large  number. 

He  also  invented  a  water  power  that  worked  by  confined  pressure,  something  on 
the  principal  of  a  steam  engine. 

He  is  also  said  to  have  invented  and  manufactured  and  sold  a  hillside  plow,  the 
evidence  of  which  is  su?tained  by  the  statements  of  his  son  Leandcr  and  his  daughter 
Caroline  and  is  further  attested  by  William  S.  McCormick  in  his  letter  of  Nov.  7,  1878, 
where  he  says,  As  to  his  hillside  plow,  the  two  mould  boards  were  attached  together, 
but  could  move  under  the  beam,  so  that  it  formed  the  land  side  in  going  one  way  and 
the  other,  going  the  other  way,  but  the  shear  moved  only  a  little,  and  had  a  cutter  on 
both  ends.  Again  J.  H.  Rush  in  his  letter  of  Nov.  20,  1894,  to  Leander  J.  McCormick 
says,  I  remember  you  spent  a  greater  part  of  your  early  life  with  your  father  in  the 
shops,  in  building  machiner>-  of  different  kinds,  reapers,  threshers,  horsepowers,  Smith's 
bellows  and  plou'?. 

HIS  BUSINESS  POSSESSIONS 

As  has  been  shown,  Robert  McCormick  was  successful  and  pros- 
perous in  his  own  business  afifairs,  and  besides  the  two  farms  he  and 
his  wife  had  acquired  by  purchase  and  by  inheritance,  he  had  ac- 
quired two  additional  farms,  one  of  three  hundred  acres  and  the 
other  of  five  hundred  acres,  and  in  addition  he  had  two  flour  mills 
and  two  saw  mills  on  his  farms,  together  with  a  distillery,  blacksmith 
and  carpenter  shops. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  he  was  a  man  of  great  business  and  ex- 
ecutive ability,  as  well  as  an  inventive  genius,  when  the  extensive 
operations  he  had  on  hand  constantly  are  well  considered.  For  many 
years  he  carried  on  farming  on  these  four  farms  aggregating  in  all 
about  1,800  acres,  and  at  the  same  time,  operated  his  two  flour  mills, 
and  two  saw  mills,  and  kept  his  carpenter  and  blacksmith  shops  busy 
manufacturing  various  kinds  of  machinery  of  his  own  designing  and 


invention.     In  all  of  these  operations  he  had  employed  during  much 
of  the  time  from  20  to  30  slaves,  besides  many  white  men. 

About  1822  he  built  himself  a  new  and  commodious  brick  house 
on  his  homestead,  which  house  is  still  standing. 

THE  IRON  FURNACE  BUSINESS 

About  the  year  1834  Mr.  McCormick  engaged  with  his  son  Cyrus 
and  a  man  by  the  name  of  Black  in  the  Iron  Furnace  business,  which 
proved  to  have  been  the  one  great  mistake  of  his  life.  They  had 
bought  and  operated  what  was  known  as  the  "Cotopaxi  Furnace" 
which  was  situated  on  the  South  River  about  two  miles  from  Mr. 
McCormick's  house.  Mr.  McCormick  furnished  almost  the  entire 
capital  for  conducting  the  business,  and  the  money  of  the  concern  was 
kept  in  a  bank  in  Richmond.  After  several  years  of  ill  success  came 
the  financial  panic  of  1837.  At  this  time  Black  drew  their  money 
out  of  the  bank,  amounting  to  about  $12,000.00;  and  also  put  his 
property  out  of  his  hands.  Thus  there  was  no  cash  available  to  meet 
the  indebtedness  of  the  firm,  and  their  rascally  partner  could  not  be 
made  to  give  up  one  dollar  of  the  funds  he  had  embezzled.  In  this 
dilema  the  furnace  had  to  be  closed  down  and  Mr.  McCormick  had 
to  bend  every  energy  to  the  liquidating  and  settling  the  claims  of  the 
firm's  creditors,  the  entire  amount  of  the  losses,  from  the  business, 
and  the  defalcation,  aggregating  about  $18,000.00. 

HIS  RELIGIOUS  CONVICTIONS 

As  has  been  heretofore  stated,  Robert  McCormick  was  a  strong 
religious  character,  inheriting  his  convictions  from  a  long  line  of 
ancestry,  his  father  being  an  elder  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  he 
and  all  his  father's  family,  as  well  as  all  his  own  children  were  mem- 
bers of  that  communion;  and  his  daughter,  Mary  Caroline,  became 
the  wife  of  a  Presbyterian  clergyman. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  his  thoughtfulness  on  religious  subjects, 
illustrating  that  he  did  not  take  all  the  doctrines  as  laid  down  by 
his  religious  teachers,  v/ithout  reserve;  illustrating  which  an  extract 
from  a  letter  to  his  brother  George  McCormick,  dated  Rockbridge 
County,  Va.,  Dec.  7th,  1822,  is  of  interest: 

We  have  been  taught  Calvinistic  doctrine  from  our  youth,  but  it  is  really  a  hard 
doctrine  to  compare  with  that  reason  which  the  Deity  has  given  us  for  our  guide.  Many 
tenets  are  introduced  by  our  teachers  to  prove  Calvinist  tenets,  one  of  which  I  will  make 
a  few  remarks  on,  which  is  that  of  the  potter  and  the  clay.  He  having  power  out  of 
the  same  lump  to  make  one  vessel  to  honor  and  another  to  dishonor.  This  we  must  ad- 
mit as  fact,  and  if  the  vessel  made  to  dishonor  continues  in  the  station  for  which  it  was 
intended  has  it  violated  the  intention  of  the  maker?  Surely  not;  because  upon  his  own 
plan,  it  has  exactly  answered  the  purpose  for  which  he  made  it.  And  if  the  being  so 
formed  be  cast  into  eternal  misery  it  is  possible  reason  would  say  he  is  more  to  be  pitied 
than  faulted. 


BLACKSMITH'S  BELLOWS,  INVENTED  BV   KOBT.   McCOKMICK 


HIS  CLOSING  DAYS 

About  the  time  he  was  beginning  to  once  more  get  free  from  debt, 
Robert  McCormick  was  caught  out  in  a  heavy  snowstorm,  in  com- 
ing home  from  the  South  River  farm,  where  he  had  been  looking 
after  the  shipment  of  reaping  machines  to  Lynchburg.  He  became 
chilled,  taking  a  very  severe  cold,  which  settled  on  his  lungs,  and 
from  the  effects  of  it  he  never  recovered. 

He  died  at  his  home  in  Rockbridge  County,  Va.,  on  July  4,  1846, 
and  was  buried  in  the  old  Providence  Grave  Yard.  His  wife,  Mary 
Anna,  died  at  her  daughter  Amanda's  (Mrs.  Hugh  Adams)  house, 
on  June  i,  1853,  after  ten  weeks'  confinement  to  her  bed  with  typhoid 
fever. 

Robert  and  Mary  A.  (Hall)  McCormick  had  issue  eight  chil- 
dren, viz., 

L     Cyrus  Hall,  b.  Feb.  16,  1809,  m.  Nettie  Fowler,  Jan.  26,  1858. 
Died  May  13,  1884,  at  his  home  in  Chicago,  111. 
n.     Robert  Hall,  b.  May  24,  1810,  died  June  28,  1826,  at  home 
in  Rockbridge  Co.,  Va. 
HL     Susan  Jane,  b.  Aug.  i,  1813,  died  June  27,  1826,  at  home  in 

Rockbridge  Co.,  Va. 
IV.     William  Sanderson,  b.  Nov.  2,  1815,  m.  Mary  Ann  Griggsby, 

June,  1848,  d.  Sept.  27,  1865,  at  Jacksonville,  111. 
V.     Mary  Caroline,  b.  Apr.  18,  18 17,  m.  Rev.  Jas.  Shields,  May 
II,   1847.     Died  March   18,   1888,  at  her  son's  home  iii 
Highland  Park,  111. 

VI.     Leander  James,  b.  Feb.  8,  1819,  m.  Henrietta  Hamilton,  Oct. 
6,  1845.    Died  Feb.  20,  1900,  in  Chicago,  111. 
VII.     John  Prestley,  b.  Nov.  8,   1820,  died  Sept.  4,   1849,  at  his 
mother's  home  in  Va. 
VIII.     Amanda  J.,  b.  Sept.  17,  1822,  m.  Hugh  Adams,  May  8,  1841;. 
Died  Oct.  12,  1891. 
The  three  brothers  and  two  sisters  are  all  buried  at  Graceland 
Cemetery,  in  Chicago,  Illinois. 

HIS  INVENTION  OF  THE  REAPER 

For  seventy-nine  years  those  best  acquainted  with  Robert  McCor- 
mick, his  life,  genius  and  accomplishments,  have  maintained  that  to 
him  was  due  the  credit  for  the  first  conception  and  invention,  and 
the  subsequent  improvement  and  final  perfection  of  his  grain  reaping 
machine.  As  there  has  been  conflict  of  opinion  among  some  of  the 
later  descendants  of  Robert  McCormick  as  to  the  right  and  credit 
for  this  great  and  inestimable  invention,  it  becomes  a  duty  to  make 
a  collection  of  the  evidence  which  establishes  him  as  the  Inventor 
of  the  McCormick  Reaper. 


Robert  McCormick 

The  Inventor  or 

Xne   McCormick   Reaper 


Review   ox  tne   Evidence   in 
Proor  Tnereor 


PROOF  OF  INVENTION 

Abundant  evidence  exists  to  prove  that  Robert  McCormick  was 
the  inventor  of  the  McCormick  Reaper,  and  that  the  first  successful 
machine  was  constructed  and  operated  by  him  on  his  own  farm  in 
the  harvest  of  183 1,  32  and  33. 

The  pages  following  contain  a  synopsis  of  this  evidence  with 
brief  comment  thereon. 

THE  FIRST  EXPERIMENTS 

Robert  McCormick,  born  July  13,  1802,  nephew  of  the  Inven- 
tor, a  son  of  William  McCormick  and  Mary  Steele,  under  date 
of  1 8th  February,  1879,  states: 

That  his  first  recollection  of  the  McCormick  reaper  was  in  1809.  When  he  was 
a  small  boy  his  father  told  him  that  his  brother  Robert  had  invented  a  reaping  machine 
to  be  drawn  by  horse  power. 

That  in  1825  or  1826,  Robert  McCormick  (his  uncle)  told  him  he  had  in- 
vented a  reaping  machine,  and  he  got  it  out  of  his  Malt  House  and  put  it  up  in  his 
yard.  That  it  was  con-tructed  with  small  circular  saws,  which  bent  to  the  side  and 
deposited  by  bands.  This  machine  was  used  on  Robert  McCormick's  farm  in  1825  and 
26.  Afterwards  Robert  McCormick  obtained  an  entire  sickle,  which  worked  by  a 
crank.     He  then  invented  and  adopted  the  reel. 

From  repeated  conversation  with  Robert  McCormick  and  from  his  personal  knowl- 
edge of  the  facts,  he  declared  that  Robert  McCormick  was  the  inventor  of  the  reaper 
and  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  the  invention. 

Cyrus  Hall  McCormick  declares  in  a  statement  dictated  by  him 
in  1874  that  his  father 

Robert  McCormick  invented  and  operated  a  reaping  machine  in  the  harvest  of 
1816.  His  machine  did  then  cut  and  lay  the  grain  in  sv/ath  very  well,  but  he  laid  it 
aside,  and  did  not  again  try  it  until  the  harvest  of  1 83 1,  when  he  made  another  trial  of 
it,  resulting  in  his  entire  abandonment  of  it,  as  an  unsuccessful  experiment. 

Cyrus  McCormick  is  the  only  witness  on  record  to  state  that  his 
father,  Robert  McCormick,  took  his  old  machine  that  he  invented 
and  built  in  18 16  again  into  the  harvest  field  in  1831.  Every  other 
witness  describes  the  machine  he  operated  in  a  field  on  his  own  farm. 
in  1831,  which  he  had  been  working  on  for  several  years,  as  a  verv 
different  machine  from  any  he  ever  previously  constructed,  as  we  will 
see  by  perusing  the  testimony  following. 

Leander  J.  McCormick  states: 

That  the  parts  of  an  old  machine,  invented  and  constructed  by  his  father,  Robert 
McCormick,  in  1820,  were  stored  in  the  old  Malt  House,  and  were  familiar  objects 


with  those  about  the  farm.  This  machine  had  two  wheels  as  carriers,  with  gearing,  a 
cutting  apparatus,  and  platform  to  receive  the  grain  in  rear  of  cutting  apparatus.  The 
cutters  were  stationary  and  curved.  The  machine  had  vertical  reels  to  sweep  the  grain 
across  the  cutters,  and  with  an  endless  apron  the  grain  was  delivered  at  the  side  of  the 
machine.    The  horses  drew  the  machine,  being  attached  by  shafts  or  a  pole. 

William  Steele  McCormick,  a  nephew  of  the  Inventor,  who 
lived  with  and  worked  for  Robert  McCormick  from  the  spring 
of  1829  until  the  fall  of  1831,  states  in  his  affidavit  of  Jan.  5,  1880: 

I  am  intimately  acquainted  with  the  invention  of  the  McCormick  reaper.  I  saw 
this  great  machine  progress  step  by  step  from  the  unsuccessful  experiment  my  Uncle 
Robert  McCormick  first  tried  prior  to  the  fall  of  1828  or  spring  of  1829.  .  .  . 
This  machine  was  a  small  two-wheeled  reaper,  drawn  by  a  horse  in  shafts,  with  sta- 
tionary' cutters.    This  failed  to  work  and  it  was  laid  aside  by  uncle. 

Again  in  a  letter  dated  Nov.  28,  1878,  he  says, 

My  dear  old  uncle  had  made  a  small  machine  before  I  went  to  live  with  him 
ind  the  crooked  cutter  came  around  horizontally,  but  it  did  not  work  well,  and  /;;• 
never  did  anything  more  nith  it  after  I  came  to  live  with  him.  I  lived  there  'till 
ibout  the  last  of  the  year  of  1831. 

William  Steele  McCormick's  statement  is  in  direct  contradiction 
of  the  statement  that  Robert  McCormick  again  tried  his  old  machine 
built  in  1816,  in  the  harvest  of  1831,  for  he  (Wililam  S.)  explicitly 
states  that  Robert  never  did  anything  more  with  it  after  he  came  to 
live  with  him,  which  was  in  1829. 

The  statement  has  been  made  that  the  old  machine  which  Robert 
McCormick  buil:  in  i8t6  was  again  tried  by  him  in  the  harvest  of 
183 1,  when  he  discarded  it,  and  abandoned  his  idea  of  inventing  a 
wheat  cutting  machine. 

The  above  statement  of  William  Steele  McCormick  shows  that 
the  18 16  machine  was  abandoned  by  Robert  McCormick  in  the  spring 
of  1828,  and  that  a  new  machine  was  invented,  constructed  and  put 
into  operation  by  Robert  McCormick  in  183 1;  and  William  Steele 
McCormick  shows  that  the  description  of  this  machine  contained 
all  the  essential  elements  of  all  future  reaping  machines. 

Mary  Caroline,  the  daughter  of  Robert  McCormick,  born  in 
1817.  states:  That  it  was  a  matter  of  family  knowledge  that  her 
father  had  invented,  built  and  experimented  with  one  or  more  reap- 
ing machines  from  a  very  early  date,  beginning  before  she  was  born, 
and  that  he  so  continued  until  his  efforts  were  crowned  with  success 
by  the  m.achine  he  invented  and  built  in  183 1,  and  operated  that  and 
succeeding  years. 

Henry  Shultz  states: 

I  remember  having  heard  my  father  say  that  Robert  McCormick  worked  on  it 
(the  reaper)  in  his  father's  lifetime,  and  his  father  (Robert  McCormick,  Sr.)  would 


tell  him,  Ah,  Robert,  it  is  of  no  use  to  trj'  and  make  a  machine  to  cut  wheat,  that  woulii 
be  the  Devil's  work 

Robert  McCormick,  Sr.,  died  Oct.  12,  18 18,  so  this  tradition 
would  go  to  corroborate  the  testimony  that  his  son  was  busily  engaged 
on  his  reaper  idea  before  that  date. 

By  these  witnesses  it  is  established  that  Robert  McCormick 
invented  and  constructed  one  or  more  machines  prior  to  183 1;  and 
in  the  general  features,  the  witnesses  all  seem  to  agree,  although  they 
dififer  as  to  their  dates. 

THE  REAPER  OF  1831  THE  FIRST 
ENTIRELY  SUCCESSFUL  MACHINE 

Cyrus  Hall  McCormick,  states  under  date  of  Jan.  i,  1848: 

In  the  summer  of  i8jl,  my  father  construeted  a  machine  for  cutting  grain,  upon 
a  principle  entirely  different  from  mine,  and  on  which  he  had  made  experim.ents  years 
before;  and  by  his  experiment  in  the  harvest  of  183 1,  he  became  satisfied  that  it  would 
not  answer  a  valuable  purpose,  notv.'ithstanding  it  cut  well  in  straight  wheat. 

There  is  evidently  a  conflict  between  the  statements  of  Mr.  Mc- 
Cormick, the  one  in  1848  and  the  other  in  1874,  ^s  in  the  latter  he 
states  his  father  constructed  a  machine  for  cutting  grain  in  l8jl, 
while  in  the  former  he  states,  that  in  1831  his  father  made  another 
trial  of  the  same  machine  he  invented  and  operated  in  1816,  and  then 
abandoned  it. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  there  is  no  other  witness  on  record  to  state 
that  there  were  two  machines  of  entirely  dififerent  type  constructed 
and  operated  on  the  farm  of  Robert  McCormick  in  1831,  one  of 
Robert  McCormick's  invention  and  the  other  of  Cyrus  McCormick's 
invention. 

Not  another  witness  is  on  record  to  the  statement  that  a  machine 
operated  on  the  farm  of  Robert  McCormick  in  1831  was  the  same 
machine  or  similar  to  the  machine,  he  built  and  operated  in  1816. 

Not  another  witness  has  ever  been  found  to  state  that  any  machine 
invented,  built,  or  operated  by  Robert  McCormick  in  1831  was  a 
failure. 

The  patent  of  June  21,  1834,  taken  out  by  Cyrus  Hall  McCormick, 
covers  a  machine  which  the  following  testimony  will  fully  describe. 
That  it  was  the  machine  which  was  invented  by  Robert  McCormick 
and  given  by  him  to  his  son,  Cyrus,  who  patented  it  in  his  own  name 
is  fully  established  by  the  testimony  follov/ing.  In  so  far  as  Cyrus 
Hall  McCormick  states  that  his  father  "in  the  summer  of  1831  con- 
structed a  machine  for  cutting  grain"  and  operated  it  on  his  own 


farm  in  the  summer  of  1831,  he  is  in  harmony  with  all  other  wit- 
nesses. 

Again.  William  Steele  McCormick  states: 

That  in  1829  or  30  he  was  personally  present  when  Robert  McCormick  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  his  second  reaping  machine.  He  was  the  sole  inventor  of  the  whole 
thing,  for  "I  know  it  well.  Myself  and  Sam  Hite  were  the  workmen,  and  did  the  work, 
Cyrus,  helping.  This  machine  was  drawn  by  horses  in  front.  Had  a  master  wheel 
3  ft.  in  diameter;  a  vibrating  sickle  driven  by  a  crank,  which  got  its  motion  from  gear 
wheels  from  the  main  axle.  The  sickle  was  supported  by  projecting  fingers  about  three 
inches  apart.  Behind  the  sickle  was  a  platform  on  which  the  grain  fell,  when  swept 
back  by  a  revolving  horizontal  reel  to  the  sickle,  and  cut,  and  was  raked  off  by  a  man. 
The  reel  was  supported  by  posts  at  each  end  and  driven  by  a  band  from  the  main 
axle.  We  took  it  into  a  field  and  it  cut  well.  I  never  heard  his  right  as  the  inventor 
of  this  machine  questioned  by  anyone.         I  know  that  my  uncle  claimed  the  invention. 

C.  R.  McCormick  of  Patterson,  Mo.,  states: 

That  his  father,  Wm.  Steele  McCormick,  had  frequently  related  to  him  the 
circumstances  of  his  uncle  Robert  McCormick's  invention  and  construction  of  the 
McCormick  reaping  machine,  as  stated  in  his  affidavit  of  Jan.  5,  1880,  and  his  several 
letters  to  Leander  McCormick  and  Mar}'  Caroline  Shields. 

S.  Ellen  McCormick  Raney  states  that: 

She  coincides  with  her  brothers'  statements,  and  that  she  frequently  heard  her 
father,  Wm.  Steele  McCormick,  make  all  the  statements  he  made  affidavit  to  on  Jan. 
■i,  1880,  as  well  as  in  his  several  letters  referred  to. 

Leander  J.  McCormick  describes  the  machine  as  invented,  con- 
structed and  operated  successfully  in  the  year  1831  and  32,  in  almost 
identical  terms  as  Wm.  Steele  McCormick  and  says  that  his  father 
was  the  inventor  of  it,  but  gave  the  invention  to  Cyrus,  and  allowed 
him  to  obtain  the  patent.  However,  in  an  affidavit  dated  Feb.  17, 
1848,  in  the  patent  extension  case  of  Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  he  and 
his  mother  and  his  brother,  William  Sanderson  McCormick,  state 
that  "during  the  harvest  of  183 1,  C.  H.  McCormick  did  have  con- 
structed and  put  into  operation  a  reaping  machine  for  which  a 
patent  was  granted  to  him  in  1834."  Then  they  described  this  ma- 
chine as  identically  the  same  machine  described  by  Wm.  Steele 
McCormick,  but  they  do  not  say  m  this  affidavit  that  Cyrus  was  the 
inventor  of  it. 

In  testimony  taken  by  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  in  the  year  184S.  in 
the  patent  extension  case  of  Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  the  following 
question  uas  asked  Leander  by  his  brother  Cyrus: 

"State  the  harvest  of  what  year  I  first  had  a  reaping  machine  con- 
structed, and  describe  it." 

Ans.  "In  the  harvest  of  the  year  1831 ,"  and  he  then  describes  the 
same  machine  as  heretofore,  but  does  not  say  that  Cyrus  invented 
it.     It  will   be  observed,   however,   that  William   S.   McCormick, 


nephew  of  Robert  McCormick,  states  that  "he  and  Sam  Hite  did  the 
work  on  the  reaper  of  1831,  Cyrus  helping."  So  that  Cyrus  did  help 
construct  the  reaper  invented  by  his  father. 

Leander  J.  McCormick  has  also  stated  that  he  knew  his  brother 
Cyrus,  his  cousin  William  Steele  McCormick,  and  Sam  Hite  were 
the  workmen  engaged  with  his  father  in  building  this  machine. 

Mary  Caroline  Shields,  daughter  of  Robert  McCormick,  states: 

In  the  summer  of  1832  her  mother  asked  her  to  walk  with  her  to  the  field  where 
her  father  was  trying  a  machine  which  he  had  invented  to  cut  wheat.  Father  and  ma, 
and  others  present  were  delighted  with  the  operation  of  the  machine.  It  had  a  reel 
which  drew  the  wheat  in  and  cut  it  by  a  vibrating  sickle,  and  it  then  fell  on  a  platform 
and  a  man  raked  it  oflF  in  bundles  ready  for  binding.  Again  in  the  summer  of  1833 
she  says  she  saw  the  same  machine  cut  wheat.  She  further  states  ma  persuaded  father 
to  give  the  invention  of  the  reaper  to  Brother  Cyrus,  and  it  took  a  good  deal  of  per- 
suasion too.  Ma  said  Cyrus  has  promised  me  that  if  the  reaper  is  made  a  success  all 
the  children  shall  be  interested  in  it,  and  I  know  he  will  do  it.  So  he  gave  the  inven- 
tion to  Brother  Cyrus,  and  as  long  as  ma  lived  she  repeated  to  me  when  she  had  the 
opportunity,  and  to  sister  Amanda  the  promise  Cyrus  had  made  her,  and  she  told  the 
same  to  Henrietta. 

This  statement  of  Mrs.  Shields  that  she  saw  a  machine  invented 
by  her  father  which  he  had  been  experimenting  on  for  several  years, 
at  work  in  the  field  in  1832  and  1833  clearly  contradicts  the  statement 
that  Robert  McCormick  had  abandoned  his  "idea"  of  a  reaping  ma- 
chine after  an  experiment  made  in  the  field  in  1831.  Mrs.  Shields 
has  also  stated  that  her  brother  Cyrus,  her  cousin  Wm.  Steele  Mc- 
Cormick and  Sam  Hite  were  the  workmen  engaged  with  her  father 
in  building  this  machine. 

Henrietta  Hamilton  McCormick  states: 

I  always  understood  Mr.  Robert  McCormick  to  have  been  the  inventor  of  the 
reaper.  On  a  certain  occasion  Mrs.  McCormick  and  her  two  daughters,  Caroline  and 
jAxnanda,  and  myself  being  present,  Amanda  stated  that  her  father  had  given  the  inven- 
tion of  the  reaper  to  her  brother  Cyrus,  under  a  promise  from  him  that  he  would  make 
the  whole  family  rich  if  he  ever  made  anything  out  of  it.  Mrs.  McCormick  acqui- 
esced in  the  statement  by  saying,  I  know  Cyrus,  I  know  Cyrus,  I  know  he  will  do 
w^hat  he  has  promised  if  he  ever  makes  anything  out  of  it. 

Rev.  Horatio  Thompson  states : 

He  knew  Robert  McCormick  from  1832,  and  that  Robert  McCormick  was  the 
inventor  of  the  original  wheat  reaper.  I  saw  him  at  work  on  the  machine  in  his  shop. 
His  whole  soul  seemed  to  be  absorbed  in  the  work  of  the  invention.  All  persons  ascribed 
it  to  Robert  McCormick  and  to  no  other. 

Zachariah  McChesney,  a  cousin  of  Mrs.  Robert  McCormick, 
states : 

I  never  heard  during  the  life  of  Robert  McCormick  any  other  name  than  his 
associated  with  the  invention  of  the  reaper,  although  Cyrus  was  an  efficient  aid  after  the 
invention   in   making  sales. 

Knew  that  Robert  was  engaged  in  studying  and  inventing  the  wheat  reaper  sev- 


eral  years  before  it  was  put  on  the  market.     I  bought  one  of  the  first  reapers  from 
Cyrus,  who  acted  as  the  agent  for  his  father. 

Col.  Thomas  Paxton,  millwright  and  farmer,  states: 

Was  intimately  acquainted  with  Robert  McCormick  from  1827  to  liis  death. 
Worked  for  him.  Have  no  doubt  myself  Robert  McCormick  was  original  inventor  of 
the  machine.  This  was  the  general  opinion  of  the  community  and  was  justified  by  the 
constant  and  unremitting  labor  and  attention  he  bestowed  on  the  machine,  and  his 
known  ingenuity  and  skill  in  working  and  inventing.  That  he  at  one  time  said  to  Rob- 
ert McCormick:  Mr.  McCormick,  this  is  not  Cyrus'  invention,  it  is  yours,  is  it  not?' 
He  replied  at  once,  'Yes,  but  I  intend  to  give  Cyrus  the  benefit  of  it. 

John  H.  B.  Schultz  states: 

I  knew  Robert  McCormick  all  my  life  and  worked  for  him  putting  up  reapers  in 
the  spring  of  1845.  Always  understood  he  was  the  inventor  of  it.  Have  absolute 
knowledge  that  Robert  McCormick  was  the  inventor  of  the  vibrating  cutter,  and  the 
reel.    Lived  wn'thin  two  miles  of  him  and  knew  him  well. 

Henry  Shults  states: 

Remember  Robert  McCormick  well.  Was  frequently  in  his  shop  and  saw  hin^ 
at  work.    Always  heard  it  said  that  he  invented  the  reaper. 

Thomas  H.  McGuffin  states: 

Was  born  and  raised  within  a  mile  and  a  half  of  Robert  McCormick.  He  was 
the  inventor  of  the  reaping  machine  beyond  all  doubt.  The  opinion  of  the  neighborhood 
was  that  he  was  the  inventor  of  the  McCormick  machine. 

A.  Horace  Henry  states: 

I  have  often  heard  my  father  say  that  Mr.  Robert  McCormick  was  the  inventor 
of  the  McCormick  reaping  machine. 

Wm.  Steele  states: 

Was  raised  within  six  miles  of  Robert  McCormick's  home  and  visited  with  his 
family  all  my  early  life.  It  was  well  known  that  he  had  invented  a  successful  reaping 
machine. 

John  H.  Rush  states: 

Knew  Robert  McCormick  and  all  his  family  well.  Lived  within  a  mile  of  his 
home.  Was  often  in  his  home  and  shops.  Was  intimately  acquainted  with  his  family. 
He  had  been  experimenting  with  a  machine  for  cutting  grain  for  many  years,  and  it 
was  well  known  by  the  neighbors  that  he,  Robert,  was  the  real  inventor  of  the  reaper. 
His  son,  Cyru=,  made  great  efforts  in  introducing  it. 

James  E.  A.  Gibbs  (inventor  of  the  Wilcox  and  Gibbs  Sewing 
Machine),  states: 

Was  born  and  raised  within  four  miles  of  the  McCormick  farm,  and  from  earliest 
recollection  remember  of  hearing  that  Robert  McCormick  was  trying  to  make  a  reap- 
ing machine.  Saw  the  work  on  the  reaper  in  the  shops  before  any  of  them  were  of- 
fered on  the  market.  Saw  one  at  work  in  a  back  field.  Up  to  this  time  never  heard  of 
anyone  bring  called  its  inventor  but  Robert  McCormick.  As  to  inventions  made  by  Cy- 
rus I  know  nothing.  Of  my  own  knowledge,  and  the  universal  opinion  of  all  citizens 
in  this  section,  Robert  McCormick  had  so  far  made  and  perfected  the  reaper  as  to  make 
it  a  practical  working  machine  before  Cyrus  took  hold  of  it. 


Serena  M.  C.  Hogshead  (a  daughter  of  Dr.  John  McChesney, 
who  was  a  first  cousin  of  Mrs.  Robert  McCormick),  states: 

She  often  heard  her  father  speak  of  the  McCormick  reaper,  invented  by  Robert 
McCormick,  and  due  alone  to  his  inventive  genius.  Her  father  was  born  in  1789  and 
u-as  Robert  McCormick's  family  physician  from  1814  to  1850,  and  would  confirm  the 
testimony  giving  the  credit  of  its  origin  to  Robert  McCormick,  as  he  knew  much  of 
the  reaper  and  its  progress   for  many  years. 

Joseph  Anderson,  (colored),  who  was  a  slave  of  Robert  McCor- 
mick, and  who  later  became  the  property  of  Cyrus  H.  McCormick, 
to  whom  he  belonged  until  he  became  free,  states: 

I  know  of  my  own  knowledge  that  Robert  McCormick  is  the  real  inventor  of  the 
first  successful  machine,  that  he  was  the  inventor  of  the  first  machine  in  w^hich  the 
sickle  had  a  vibratory  or  crank  motion,  and  that  had  a  revolving  reel  with  the  horses  to 
draw  the  same,  of  these  facts  and  statements  I  can  say  nothing  less  in  justice  to  truth, 
for  I  know  it  to  be  a  fact,  and  am  obliged  to  give  the  statements  as  the  facts  are. 

Dr.  N.  M.  Hitt,  one  of  Cyrus  McCormick's  witnesses  in  the 
Patent  Extension  Case  of  1848,  states  on  March  17,  1848: 

During  the  summer  of  1831  I  saw  Mr.  Robert  McCormick  and  Mr.  C.  H.  Mc- 
Cormick engaged  in  building  a  reaping  machine,  which  he  afterwards  saw  operate  in  a 
piece  of  wheat  on  Robert  ]\IcCormick's  farm  in  the  latter  part  of  July,  1 83 1.  Then 
he  goes  on  to  describe  the  same  machine  William  Steel  McCormick  testifies  he  worked 
on  the  construction  of  for  Robert  McCormick,  and  which  he  declares  was  the  sole  in- 
vention of  Robert  McCormick. 

This  was  not  Robert  McCormick's  machine  of  18 16  that  Dr. 
Hitt  saw.  From  the  nature  of  Dr.  Hitt's  statement  he  must  have 
seen  Robert  McCormick  and  Cyrus  at  work  on  this  same  machine 
some  time  before  harvest  in  1831,  as  he  said  he  "saw  them  engaged 
in  building"  it  and  asked  them  to  let  him  know  when  it  was  "com- 
pleted," so  that  he  might  "see  it  operate."  He  says  nothing  about  any 
other  machine  having  been  operated  by  Robert  McCormick,  but 
clearly  indicates  that  Robert  was  engaged  in  the  work  of  building  the 
one  he  afterwards  saw  at  work,  and  he  furthermore  does  not  state 
who  invented  that  machine.  Thus  Dr.  Hitt's  testimony  shows  that  a 
reaper  which  Dr.  Hitt  saw  Robert  McCormick  at  work  on  in  the 
summer  of  1831,  was  subsequently  operated  in  a  "piece  of  wheat," 
and  he  describes  that  machine  as  having  been  "drawn  by  horses." 
It,  therefore,  w^as  not  the  machine  described  as  the  one  Robert  oper- 
ated in  1816, — but  evidently  was  the  same  machine  all  other  wit- 
nesses testify  to  having  seen  at  work  on  Robert  McCormick's  farm  in 
1831. 

Dr.  Hitt's  testimony,  however,  is  clearly  in  harmony  with  William 
Steele  McCormick,  and  every  other  witness  on  the  question  of  the 
description  of  the  only  machine  that  was  successfully  operated  on 


Robert  McCormick's  plantation  in  1831,  and  Robert  McCormick  in- 
vented and  constructed  that  machine. 

In  another  statement  said  to  have  been  prepared  by  Cyrus  H. 
McCormick  in  1874,  he  sets  forth  the  following  claims  in  regard  to 
his  invention  of  the  Reaper. 

After  speaking  of  his  father's  varied  qualifications  as  a  farmer, 
mechanic  and  inventor,  he  says: 

In  the  harvest  of  i8ifa  he  invented  and  operated  a  reaping  machine.  His  ma- 
chine did  then  cut  and  lay  the  grain  in  swath  very  well,  (as  did  Bell's  of  Scotland 
subsequently)  when  the  grain  stood  up  straight,  and  was  not  tangled.  Nevertheless, 
my  father  then  perceived  such  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  practical  success  of  his 
machine  that  he  laid  it  aside,  and  did  not  again  try  it  until  early  in  the  harvest  of  1 83 1, 
when  he  made  another  trial  of  it,  resulting  in  his  entire  abandonment  of  it,  as  an  un- 
successful experiment. 

At  this  point,  then  twenty-two  years  of  age,  having  been  present,  and  having 
closely  watched  the  operation  of  my  father's  machine,  I  applied  myself  to  the  study  of 
the  principles  and  difficulties  so  far  demonstrated  in  the  construction  of  a 
successful  reaping  machine;  and  suffice  it  to  say  that,  in  a  very  short  time 
I  had  made  in  a  crude  manner,  and  satisfactorily  tested,  the  principles  of  cutting, 
in  a  field  of  rye,*  on  my  father's  farm,  and  that  I  had  my  new  machine  more  com- 
pletely made,  with  the  addition  of  the  gathering  reel,  and  with  a  better  arranged  divider, 
ready  for  the  trial  in  a  neighboring  field  of  late  oats,  during  the  same  harvest,  in  which 
I  then  cut,  very  successfully,  six  or  seven  acres  of  the  crop.  *  *  *  And  here, 
at  my  old  home,  it  is  proper  to  say  that  the  fact  may  appear, — singular  as  it  might 
seem  in  the  close  relations  that  existed  between  my  father  and  myself  in  these  matters, 
and  contrary  I  believe  to  the  opinions  of  some — there  was  no  resemblance  whatever 
between  any  two  single  features  of  our  machines.  His  machine,  for  example,  was  pro- 
pelled by  horses  from  the  rear,  (as  was  Bell's  also  ten  years  later).  Mine,  except 
one  built  as  an  experiment  for  the  harvest  of  1834,  was  drawn  by  the  horses  placed  in 
front,  and  at  the  side  of  the  crop  to  be  cut.  His  delivered  the  grain  in  swath  while 
mine  delivered  in  gavels.  His  divided  and  separated  the  grain  being  cut  at  several 
different  places  along  the  cutting  line,  the  cutting  being  done  by  short  hooks,  sepa- 
rately, at  each  such  division.     *     *     * 

*NoTE.  In  his  previous  statement  it  was  "a  little  wheat  left  standing." 
His  cutting  was  done  by  a  series  of  serrated  hooks,  fixed  on  the  front  edge  of  a 
frame  placed  in  front  of  the  horses,  and  at  right  angles  to  the  line  of  cutting,  the 
grain  being  forced  across  their  edges  by  means  of  vertical  cylinders,  with  projecting 
teeth  on  their  peripheries,  revolving  horizontally,  and  kept  in  motion  by  as  many 
leather  bands,  connected  to  the  cart  wheels  in  the  rear;  mine  by  a  reciprocating  straight 
sickle,  placed  at  the  front  edge  of  a  platform,  and  moved  literally  (laterally)  by  a 
crank,  the  grain  being  supported  at  the  edge  by  fingers  while  being  cut.  His  machine, 
without  a  platform,  removed  the  grain,  laying  it  in  a  swath  by  means  of  the  leather 
straps,  with  nails  as  teeth  in  them  referred  to ;  while  with  mine  the  grain  was  collected 
on  the  platform  by  the  gathering  reel,  from  which  it  was  deposited  on  the  ground  in 
gavels  ready  for  the  Binder. 

In  the  summer  of  1831,  my  father  constructed  a  machine  for  cutting  grain  upon 
a  principle  entirely  different  from  mine,  and  on  which  he  had  made  experiments  years 
before;  and  by  his  experiment  in  the  harvest  of  1 83 1  he  became  satisfied  that  it  would 
not  answer  a  valuable  purpose,  notwithstanding  it  cut  well  in  straight  wheat.  Very 
soon  after  my  father  had  abandoned  his  machine"  (which  he  has  just  stated  was  after 
experimenting  with  it  in  the  harvest  of  1831)  "I  first  conceived  the  idea  of  cutting 
upon  the  principle  of  mine,  viz. :  with  a  vibrating  blade,  operated  by  a  crank,  and  the 
grain  supported  at  the  edge  while  cutting,  by  means  of  fixed  pieces  of  wood  or  iron 
projecting  before  it,  etc.  


A  temporary  experimental  machine  was  immediately  constructed,  and  the  cut- 
ting partially  tried  with  success,  in  cutting  without  a  reel,  a  little  wheat  left  standing 
for  the  trial;  whereupon  the  machine  was  improved,  and  the  reel," — which  I  had  in 
the  meantime  discovered — "attached  and  soon  afterwards"  (the  same  harvest)  "a  very 
successful  experiment  was  made  with  it  in  cutting  oats,  in  a  field  of  Mr.  John  Steele, 
neighbor  to  my  father.  The  machine  at  the  time  of  this  experiment  contained  all  the 
essential  parts  that  were  embraced  in  the  patent  of  June  21,  1834. 

Then  he  goes  on  to  describe  the  machine,  which  description  coin- 
cides with  the  description  given  by  several  witnesses  of  the  machine, 
invented,  constructed  and  operated  by  Robert  McCormick  in  the 
harvests  of  1831-2-3. 

The  grandchildren  of  Robert  McCormick,  the  children  of  Will- 
iam S.,  Mary  Caroline,  Leander  J.,  and  Amanda  J.,  state  that  by 
tradition  from  their  parents,  uncles  and  aunts,  they  have  always  un- 
derstood that  R.obert  McCormick  was  the  original  inventor  and  con- 
structor of  the  first  successful  Reaping  Machine  which  he  operated 
on  his  own  home  farm  successfully  in  183 1-2  and  3.  That  it  was  not 
the  first  machine  he  ever  built,  but  that  it  was  the  first  entirely  suc- 
cessful machine,  and  that  at  the  earnest  entreaty  of  their  grand- 
mother (Mary  A.  McCormick)  he  (Robert  McCormick)  gave  the 
patent  to  his  son  Cyrus,  with  the  understanding  that  if  he  made  a 
success  of  it  the  whole  family  should  be  enriched  by  it  and  that 
thereby  Cyrus  H.  McCormick  acquired  the  patent  that  was  issued 
to  him  in  1834. 

From  the  foregoing  long  array  of  credible  witnesses,  and  from 
the  tradition  of  his  grandchildren,  and  the  historical  facts  that  are 
recorded  of  him,  it  would  seem  to  be  established  beyond  all  shadow 
of  doubt  that — 
A. — Robert  McCormick  was  a  man  of  diversified  genius. 

A  man  of  extraordinary  executive  ability. 

A  man  of  varied  interests. 

A  successful  man  in  many  departments  of  industry. 

A  man  well  posted  in  scientific  matters  and  events  of  his  day  and 
generation. 

A  man  well  known,  highly  respected  and  looked  up  to  by  the  com- 
munity he  lived  in. 

And  in  every  way  a  very  unusual  man. 
B. — That  Robert  McCormick  invented  and  constructed  many  dif- 
ferent articles  of  machinery,  and  manufactured  and  sold  them  from 
his  own  home  shops  to  his  advantage  and  profit. 

C. That  Robert  McCormick  invented  and  constructed  one  or  more 

reapers  previous  to   1826,  which  he  laid  aside  as  not  a  success. 

D That  Robert  McCormick  invented,  constructed  and  operated 


a  reaper,  with  great  success,  in  the  harvests  of  183 1,  1832  and 
1833,  the  description  of  which  machine  is  fully  authenticated.  That 
all  of  his  family  knew  this  machine  was  his  invention  and  his  alone, 
and  that  so  far  as  known  all  his  neighbors  and  friends  knew  he  was 
the  original  inventor  of  that  machine;  that  his  son  Cyrus  patented  in 
1834  a  machine  which  was  in  its  main  and  principal  features  the  same 
as  the  machine  described  as  having  been  invented,  constructed  and 
operated  by  Robert  McCormick  in  the  harvests  of  1831,  32  and  33; 
and  his  brother  and  sisters  declared  that  his  father  gave  the  inven- 
tion to  Cyrus. 

E. — That  Robert  McCormick  manufactured,  and  continued  to 
experiment  on  and  improve,  in  shops  on  his  own  home  plantation, 
from  year  to  year,  on  and  after  1834,  reaping  machines  constructed 
after  the  pattern  of  the  machine  built  by  him  in  183 1  ;  and  sold  such 
machines  to  farmers  in  his  own  and  distant  neighborhoods;  almost 
every  year,  so  far  as  now  known,  increasing  the  number  he  made  and 
sold,  until  the  time  of  his  death  in  1846,  during  which  year  75  ma- 
chines were  built  by  him,  60  of  which  were  sold.  And  furthermore, 
the  principal  features  of  Robert  McCormick's  machine  of  183 1  and 
thereafter  are  the  fundamental  features  of  all  successful  reaping  and 
mowing  machines  of  the  present  day. 

F. — The  fact  seems,  therefore,  to  be  well  proven  by  the  evidence  we 
have  at  hand  that: 

Robert  McCormick,  after  successfully  inventing,  constructing 
and  operating  a  reaper  in  1831-32-33,  gave  the  invention  of  that 
machine  to  his  son,  Cyrus  Hall  McCormick;  and  the  latter  obtained 
a  patent  for  same  dated  June  21,  1834. 

In  proof  of  this  contention,  we  have  only  to  refer  to  the  testimony 
herewith  attached  by  Leander  James  McCormick,  Mary  Caroline 
Shields,  Henrietta  H.  McCormick,  Col.  Thomas  Paxton,  Robert 
McCormick  (nephew  of  Robert,  Jr.),  Wm.  Steele  McCormick,  and 
lastly  by  the  tradition  of  the  grandchildren  of  Robert  McCormick. 

This  contention  harmonizes  entirely  with  the  testimony  of  all  the 
witnesses  collected  to  substantiate  the  fact  of  Robert  McCormick's  in- 
vention, and  is  not  in  antagonism  with  anv  of  the  testimony  (except 
his  own)  produced  by  Cyrus  Hall  McCormick  to  prove  his  inven- 
tion of  the  reaper. 


>J^ELL  EARNED  FAME 

No  Persian  scythe  bearing  cliariot  ever  cut  such  a  swath,  porten- 
tious  for  the  destiny  of  all  mankind  as  this  first  reaper  did,  when 
it  left  in  its  wake  the  assurance  of  abundant  food,  more  ease  and  more 
prosperity  to  countless  men  throughout  the  earth. 

No  Roman  charioteer  ere  won  a  victory  commanding  the  plaudits 
of  so  great  a  throng  as  did  this  plain  but  earnest  and  far  seeing  hus- 
bandman, who,  after  more  than  twenty  years  of  thought  and  work, 
wherein  he  made  slow  progress,  with  much  and  oft  discouragement, 
at  last,  however,  reached  the  goal  of  his  ambition,  thereby  command- 
ing the  plaudits  of  not  only  those  who  knew  him  in  his  own  day  and 
age,  but  also  that  of  countless  millions  yet  unborn,  for  the  great  boon 
his  efiforts  had  secured  for  them  and  theirs. 

Therefore,  in  con.sideration  of  the  remarkable  labors  and  achieve- 
ments of  Robert  McCormick,  culminating  in  the  invention  of  the 
first  successful  reaping  machine  ever  produced,  which  has,  in  its 
evolution,  become  one  of  the  greatest  boons  to  civilized  mankind, 
enabling  the  farmers  of  the  entire  world  to  harvest  their  crops  with 
such  ease,  rapidity  and  economy  that  the  staple  food  of  all  modern 
nations  has  been  both  cheapened  and  multiplied  many  fold,  so  that, 
the  reaper  of  to-day  is  indispensable  in  the  problem  of  the  feeding  of 
the  peoples  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  We,  the  descendants  of  Robert 
McCormick,  claim  that  by  his  great  contribution  to  the  arts  and 
crafts  in  the  contest  for  human  honors,  he  has  won  the  Golden  Chal- 
ice, gained  the  Victor's  Crown,  and  earned  a  place  immortal  in  the 
Hall  of  Fame. 


Copies  of 

Letters,  Personal  Statements 

ana 

Affidavits 


In  testimony  of 

Tke   Invention   of  tke   Reaper 

By 

Rotert   McCormick 


Tte   Originals  are  in  tke  possession  of  eitber  R.  Hall  McCormick 
or  James  Hall  Skields 


I  trust  that  these  papers  will  long  be  preserved  and  that  hidden  truths  can  at  all 
times  be  brought  to  light  in  justice  to  my  beloved  father,  Robert  McCormick. 

(Signed)   L.  J.  McCormick. 
May  7,  1891. 


I  simply  wish  to  endorse  all  of  these  papers,  (as  it  might  be  asked  who  these 
writers  were)  as  they  were  all  of  my  truest  and  best  friends  and  that  of  each  one  of  my 
father's  family. 

(Signed)   L.  J.  McCormick. 


A  Memorial  of  the  Early  History  and  Invention  of  the 

McCormick  Reaper,  as  Detailed  by  Robert  McCor- 

mick  of  the  County  of  Rockbridge  and  State 

of  Virginia,  Aged  Seventy-Six  Years. 

AFFIDAVIT  OF  ROBERT  McCORMICK,  A  NEPHEW 
OF  ROBERT  McCORMICK,  THE  INVENTOR 

Please  state  your  earliest  recollection  of  the  invention  of  the  McCormick  reaper. 

My  first  recollection  of  the  invention  of  the  McCormick  reaper  was  in  i8og.  When 
I  was  a  small  boy,  my  father  told  me  that  his  brother,  Robert,  the  fatlier  of  Cyrus  H. 
and  L.  J.  McCormick,  had  invented  a  reaping  machine  to  be  drawn  by  horse  power, 
but  that  their  father  discouraged  the  work  at  the  time.  In  1825  or  1826,  Robert  Mc- 
Cormick, the  father  of  Cyrus  H.  and  L.  J.  McCormick,  came  to  me  and  told  me  he  had 
invented  a  reaping  machine,  and  requested  me  to  go  over  to  his  house  and  look  at  it.  I 
went  over  to  Robert  McCormick's  and  he  got  the  machine  out  of  the  malt  house  and 
put  it  up  in  the  yard.  The  reaping  machine  was  constructed  with  small  circular  saws, 
eight  or  ten  inches  in  diameter,  which  bent  the  grain  to  the  sickle.  It  was  caught  by 
bands  carried  to  the  side  and  deposited  by  the  bands. 

During  the  harvest  of  1825  or  6  this  machine  was  used  on  Robert  McCormick's 
farm,  but  the  great  objection  to  this  machine  was  when  the  grain  was  dry  and  very 
ripe  it  got  fastened  in  the  bands. 

After  the  harvest,  Robert  McCormick  obtained  an  entire  sickle  which  worked  by 
a  crank.     Robert  McCormick  then  invented  and  adopted  the  reel. 

I  am  prepared  to  declare  from  my  personal  knowledge  of  the  facts  that  Robert 
McCormick,  the  father  of  C.  H.  and  L.  J.  McCormick,  is  the  inventor  of  the  Mc- 
Cormick reaper. 

Robert  McCormick  had  repeated  conversations  with  me  about  his  invention,  and  I 
know  that  he  is  entitled  to  the  credit  of  this  invention. 

Robert  McCormick  might  have  patented  his  reaper  eight  or  ten  years  before  it 
was  patented ;  he  then  gave  the  right  to  the  patent  to  C.  H.  McCormick,  his  son. 

Given  under  my  hand  this  Eighteenth  day  of  February,  1879. 

(Signed)  Robt.  McCormick. 

Attest: 

S.  McCormick. 
M.  S.  McCormick. 


LETTER  OF  "WM.  STEELE  McCORMICK 
TO  LEANDER  J.  McCORMICK 

Patterson,  Wayne  Co.,  Mo.,  Nov.  7,  '78. 
Dear  Cousin: 

Yours  of  Oct.  28th  just  to  hand  and  found  me  and  my  wife  just  able  to  be  up, 
but  I  will  try  and  write  you. 

Now  as  to  the  reaper,  you  know  I  was  personally  present,  living  there  with  your 
pa  when  the  thing  was  first  concoted  and  put  into  operation;  Sam  Hight  and  myself 
were  the  men  that  did  the  work,  Cyrus  helping  also,  but  as  to  the  invention  of  the  ma- 
chine, that  was  my  dear  old  Uncle's  and  none  else.  In  several  cases  in  putting  it  up 
he  would  speak  to  me  in  doing  it  thus  and  so,  as  I  was  his  right-hand  man,  but  he 
was  the  sole  inventor  of  the  whole  thing  for  I  know  it  well. 

I  was  living  with  him  for  some  time  before  he  tried  the  wheat  cutter;  the  first 


thing  I  helped  him  to  do  was  to  try  a  water  power  to  work  like  steam  from  the  Old 
Mill  trunk,  but  it  would  not  work.  Next  we  tried  a  horse  hemp  brake  which  did  ex- 
ceedingly well,  and  next  was  the  wheat  cutter  and  it  was  all  from  his  own  head.  He 
was  the  greatest  genius  I  ever  saw,  at  least  I  looked  upon  him  as  such. 

I  made  a  neat  model  for  the  bellows  and  went  with  him  and  Cyrus  to  Wash- 
ington to  get  a  patent  for  the  same,  and  there  was  not  a  single  model  in  the  patent 
office  for  cutting  wheat. 

Give  my  kindest  regards  to  all. 

Yours, 

(Signed)   Wm.  S.  McCormick. 

LETTER  OF  'WM.  STEELE  McCORMICK 
TO  LEANDER  J.  McCORMICK 

Patterson,  Wayne  Co.,  Mo.,  Nov.  7th,  1878. 
Dear  Cousin: 

Yours  of  October  28th  just  came  to  hand  and  found  myself  and  wife  in  feeble 
health.  I  will,  however,  answer  your  letter  and  give  you  such  facts  as  I  can  call  to 
mind  or  gather  up  in  regard  to  the  early  history  of  the  McCormick  Reaper. 

My  uncle,  Robert  McCormick,  had  built  a  small  two  wheeled  reaper  with  sta- 
tionary cutters  drawn  by  a  horse  in  shafts,  which  failed  to  work,  and  he  laid  it  aside 
before  I  went  to  live  with  him,  which  was  in  the  Fall  of  1828  or  in  the  Spring  of 
1829.  I  was  personally  present  when  Uncle  Robert  conceived  the  idea  of  his  second 
machine,  myself  and  Sam  Hight  were  the  workmen  and  did  the  work,  Cyrus  helping; 
but  as  to  the  invention  of  the  machine,  that  was  my  dear  old  Uncle  Robert's  and  none 
else.  In  several  cases  in  putting  it  up  he  would  speak  to  me  in  doing  it  thus  and 
so  as  I  was  his  right-hand  man,  but  he  was  the  sole  inventor  of  the  whole  thing  for  I 
know  it  well  as  I  was  living  with  him  for  some  time  before  he  tried  this  second  wheat 
cutter. 

The  first  thing  I  helped  him  to  do  was  to  try  a  water  power  to  operate  like  steam 
from  the  old  mill  trunk,  but  it  would  not  work;  next  we  tried  a  horse  power  and 
hemp  brake  which  did  exceedingly  well,  and  next  was  his  second  wheat  cutter,  and 
all  was  from  his  own  head;  he  was  the  greatest  genius  or  natural  mechanic  I  ever  saw, 
at  least  I  looked  upon  him  as  such.  The  machine  was  drawn  by  horses  in  front  of  the 
standing  grain  and  it  was  built  on  one  master  wheel  (say  three  feet  in  diameter)  and 
ran  out  into  the  grain  to  the  right,  the  length  of  the  sickle  cut  by  a  horizontal  crank 
motion  from  the  main  wheel.  The  reel  worked  by  a  band  over  the  cutter  put  in 
motion  by  a  crank  from  the  master  wheel.  The  wheat  was  thrown  down  on  a  platform 
behind  the  cutter  by  the  reel  and  raked  off  by  hand.  You  know  the  blacksmith  bellows 
my  Uncle  Robert  invented  was  made  and  in  operation  in  his  shop  before  I  went  there 
to  live  in  1828;  as  to  his  Hill  Side  Plough  the  two  moldboards  were  attached  together 
but  could  move  under  the  beam  so  that  it  formed  the  land  side  in  going  one  way  and 
the  other  going  the  other  way,  but  the  shear  moved  only  a  little  and  had  a  cutter  on 
both  ends.  Yours, 

(Signed)   Wm.  S.  McCormick. 

LETTER  OF  'WM.  STEELE  McCORMICK 
TO  LEANDER  J.  McCORMICK 

Patterson,  Wayne  Co.,  Mo.,  Nov.  28th,  1878. 
Dear  Cousin: 

Yours  of  the  23d  inst.  has  just  come  to  hand  and  I  am  just  able  to  be  up. 

As  to  the  machine,  from  the  best  information  I  can  get  from  my  old  torn  books, 
the  work  in  making  the  first  reaping  machine  was  done  at  your  father's  in  the  year 
1829;  I  made  bellows  at  your  father's  in  the  year  1830  after  we  came  back  from  Wash- 


ington  City  where  your  father,  Cyrus  and  myself  had  gone  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
a  patent  for  the  reaper.  My  age  at  that  time  was  25  years.  The  machine  was  pretty 
much  the  old  reliable,  the  horses  hitched  to  it  the  same  way,  at  least  the  old  reliable 
was  made  from  it ;  the  sickle  or  cutter  was  vibrating  and  cut  with  a  crank  motion 
and  the  reel  or  rake  turned  wnth  a  band  over  the  cutter  and  threw  the  wheat  on  the 
platform  and  when  there  was  sufficient  for  a  bundle  it  was  raked  off  by  hand. 

My  dear  old  uncle  had  made  a  small  machine  before  I  went  to  live  with  him 
and  the  crooked  cutter  came  'round  horizontally  but  it  did  not  work  well,  and  he 
never  did  anything  more  with  it  after  I  came  to  live  with  him.  He  never  made  but  the 
one  machine  while  I  lived  with  him;  I  lived  there  till  about  the  last  of  the  year  1831, 
I  was  making  bellows  all  the  time. 

I  believe  I  have  given  you  about  all  the  information  I  can  respecting  the  first 
wheat  cutter  made  by  your  father. 

So  no  more  for  the  present,  but  remain 

Your   most   affectionate   cousin, 

(Signed)    Wm.  S.   McCormick. 
To  L.  J.  McCormick,  Chicago,  111. 

P.S.:  My  impression  was,  before  I  left  the  State  of  Virginia,  that  my  uncle  had 
given  it  to  Cvrus,  but  I  do  not  think  I  got  it  directly  from  him. 

Wm.  S.  McCormick. 

AFFIDAVIT  OF  W^M.  STEELE  McCORMICK 

My  name  is  William  S.  McCormick.  I  am  seventy-six  years  of  age.  I  was  born 
in  Augusta  County,  Virginia.  I  am  intimately  acquainted  with  the  invention  of  the 
McCormick  Reaper.  I  saw  this  great  machine  progress  step  by  step  from  the  unsuc- 
cessful experiment  my  uncle  Robert  McCormick  first  tried  prior  to  the  Fall  of  1828 
or  Spring  of  1829  when  I  went  to  live  with  my  uncle  Robert  McCormick. 

This  machine  was  a  small  two-wheeled  Reaper  drawn  by  a  horse  in  shaft,  witli  sta- 
tionary cutters.    This  failed  to  work  and  it  was  laid  aside  by  Uncle. 

And  I  was  personally  present  when  my  old  uncle  Robert  McCormick,  the  father 
of  C.  H.  and  L.  J.  McCormick,  first  conceived  the  idea  of  his  second  reaping  machine, 
subsequently  patented.  This  was  in  1829  or  1830.  I,  myself,  and  one  Samuel  Hite, 
were  the  men  that  did  the  work  for  Robert  McCormick  while  he  invented  and  ex- 
perimented vnth  the  rrachine.  I  know  that  Robert  McCormick  was  the  'ole  inventor 
of  the  Reaping  Machine.  His  skillful  brain  invented  each  parcel  of  the  Reaper  in 
the  order  I  now  name:  the  machine  was  drawn  by  horses  in  front  by  the  standing 
grain,  it  had  a  master  wheel,  say,  three  feet  in  diameter,  the  sickle  was  vibrating  and 
driven  by  a  crank  which  got  its  motion  from  gear  wheels  from  the  main  axle,  the  sickle 
was  supported  by  projecting  fingers  about  three  inches  apart.  Behind  the  fickle  there 
was  a  platform  on  which  the  grain  fell,  when  it  was  swept  back  by  the  revolving  hori- 
zontal reel  to  the  sickle  and  cut,  and  was  raked  by  a  man.  The  Reel  was  supported 
by  posts  at  each  end  and  was  driven  by  a  band  from  the  main  axle. 

The  foregoing  described  machine  was  invented  solely  and  alone  by  my  uncle 
Robert  McCormick.  This  I  know;  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  it  whatever.  I  wa; 
present.  I  lived  with  my  uncle  and  worked  with  him  on  this  machine.  He  gave  his 
orders  and  they  were  followed  by  myself  and  other  workmen.  He  made  his  sug- 
gestions and  we  followed  them.  I  know  that  the  conception  and  creation  was  wholly 
from  his  own  brain.  I  never  heard  his  right  as  the  inventor  of  this  machine  ques- 
tioned by  any  one.  nor  did  I  hear  any  one  ehe  at  that  time  claim  any  of  the  inven- 
tion ;  on  the  contran,-,  I  know  that  my  uncle  Robert  McCormick  claimed  the  in- 
vention of  the  machine.  My  uncle  Robert  ^McCormick  was  endowed  with  a  mind 
skilled  and  inventive  and  he  had  invented  other  matters. 

Ix  Witness  of  the  foregoing  statement,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  this 
5th  day  of  January,   1880. 

(Signed)  Wm.  S.  McCormick. 


Wayne  County 
State  of  Missouri 

Personally  appeared  before  me  a  Notary  Public  within  and  for  the  County  of 
Wayne,  State  of  Missouri,  on  the  4th  day  of  March,  1880,  Win.  S.  McCormick,  who 
being  duly  sworn  says  that  the  foregoing  statement  is  true  in  substance  and  in  fact. 

In  Testimony  Whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  affixed  my  official 
seal  at  my  office  in  Wayne  County,  the  day  and  year  first  above  written.  My  term  of 
office  as  a  Notary  Public  will  expire  Nov.  30th,  1881. 

(Signed)  DeWitt  C.  Bugg, 

Notary   Public. 

LETTER  OF  \^M.  STEELE  McCORMICK 
TO  MARY  CAROLINE  SHIELDS 

Patterson,  Mo.,  Feb.  27th,   1883. 
Caroline  Shields: 

My  Dear  Cousin — I  have  just  received  yours  of  the  7th  inst.  and  I  have  hardly 
words  to  express  my  gratitude  to  you  for  the  same.  Well  it  found  my  family  all  well 
but  myself.  I  have  been  very  feeble  for  some  time.  I  took  a  bad  cold  some  time  ago 
and  something  like  neuralgia  in  one  of  my  legs  so  I  could  hardly  get  about  for  some 
time,  but  I  am  better  now  and  can  get  about  a  little. 

My  family  consists  my  wife,  my  youngest  son,  Cyrus,  and  his  wife.  He  has  been 
five  months  married.  My  oldest  son,  Theodore,  joins  places  with  me,  has  five  chil- 
dren and  is  well  fixed  and  is  doing  well.  Charles  R.  lives  about  two  miles  off,  has 
four  children  and  is  well  to  do  and  is  getting  rich  for  this  country.  My  daughter 
Ellen  has  four  children,  the  wife  of  Judge  Rainey  of  Greenville  and  he  is  doing  well. 
My  son,  John,  has  six  children.  He  will  take  the  homie  place  at  half  of  its  value, 
and  will  take  charge  of  his  mother  and  me.  My  oldest  daughter,  Lucy,  married  C.  R. 
Rice,  a  Methodist  Preacher.  They  have  five  children,  some  grown.  They  are  living 
in  Kansas  and  are  doing  well.     He  is  a  good  Preacher. 

Now  I  will  say  something  about  my  dear  old  Uncle,  your  father.  I  never  can 
forget  his  love  and  kindness  to  me.  I  went  to  live  with  him  in  the  Spring  of  1829. 
He  was  the  greatest  natural  genius  and  mechanic  I  ever  saw.  He  never  failed  to 
do  anything  he  wished.  He  invented  a  hemp  brake  and  a  horse  power  to  operate  it, 
which  wa=;  a  perfect  success.  I  was  personally  present  when  your  father  conceived 
the  idea  of  his  reaper  (not  his  first  one).  It  failed  and  was  thrown  aside  before  I  went 
to  live  with  him.  Sam  Hite  and  myself  were  the  workmen  at  the  time,  Cyrus  helping 
also.  The  pattern  was  made  for  the  master  wheel  and  carried  down  to  his  furnace 
and  cast.  And  Uncle  made  the  cutter  bar  in  his  own  shop  and  he  was  the  sole  inventor 
of  the  whole  machine,  and  we  took  it  into  the  field  and  it  cut  well.  The  wheat  was 
thrown  on  the  platform  by  a  reel  turned  by  a  cape  and  raked  off  by  hand. 

My  dear  cousin,  I  have  not  seen  you  since  we  were  young  and  I  can  only  look 
back  on  you  as  I  last  saw  you.  But  I  am  now  old  and  feeble  and  feel  and  know  that  I 
must  soon  be  numbered  amongst  those  that  were.  I  am  79  years  of  age  and  have  but 
little  of  this  world's  goods,  but  I  thank  my  Heavenly  Father  that  this  earth  is  not  my 
home.  I  have  one  not  made  with  hands  eternal  in  the  Heavens.  Oh  when  I  look 
back  to  your  and  my  youthful  age  and  remember  the  prayers  of  that  dear  old  sainted 
father  of  yours  for  you  and  me  when  we  were  young,  wild  and  giddy,  I  cannot  feel 
thankful  enough  for  the  hope  of  meeting  such  dear  loved  ones  at  my  Savior's  right 
hand  where  we  will  no  more  take  the  parting  hand.    That  hope  to  me  is  my  all. 

Give  my  kindest  regards  to  Amanda  and  tell  her  I  would  be  glad  to  receive  a 
letter  from  her  and  yours  and  her  picture  to  hang  up  in  my  room  with  the  rest  of 
5'our  father's  family.  Write  soon  and  give  all  that  would  interest  your  old  sincere 
friend  and  cousin, 

Wm.  S.  McCormick. 
To  Mnry  Caroline  Shields. 


LETTERS  OF  C.  R.  McCORMICK  AND 
MRS.  ELLEN  McCORMICK  RANEY 

Home,  Pattersox,  Wavne  Co.,  Mo.,  June  i6,  1910. 
Mr.  R.  Hall  McCormick,  Chicago,  III. 

De.vr  Covsix — I  have  read  the  letters  of  my  father,  William  Steele  McCormick, 
addressed  to  your  father  under  dates  of  Nov.  7th  and  Nov.  28th,  1878,  and  also  the 
statement  made  under  oath  by  my  father,  dated  Jany.  5th,  1880,  as  well  as  the  copy 
of  a  letter  written  by  my  father  to  his  cousin  Mar)'  Caroline  Shields,  dated  Feby. 
27th,  1883,  and  I  am  glad  to  state  that  all  the  circumstances  therein  related  con- 
cerning the  construction  and  invention  of  the  McCormick  Reaping  Machine  and  the 
part  my  father  took  in  working  on  that  machine  under  the  instruction  of  his  uncle, 
Robert  McCormick,  have  been  related  to  me  by  my  father  many  times  during  his  life 
time.  My  father  frequently  told  me  that  his  uncle  Robert  seemed  always  to  have  the 
ideas  in  his  mind  of  just  what  he  desired  to  make  and  instructed  my  father  just  what 
to  make  and  how  to  make  it  as  he  went  along.  ju>t  as  though  he  had  the  entire  com- 
pleted machine  in  his  mind.  My  father  always  said  that  his  uncle  Robert  was  a  natural 
born  inventor.  V^en'  trulv  yours, 

(Signed)   C.  R.  McCormick. 

Maplehlrst,  Wayne  Co.,  Mo.,  June  i6th,  1910. 
I  have  read  the  foregoing  also  the  letters  and  affidavits  therein  referred  to  and 
am  glad  to  concur  in  all  that  my  brother,  Charles,  has  stated.  I  have  frequently 
heard  my  father  make  all  the  statements  referred  to  concerning  the  construction  and 
invention  of  the  McCormick  Reaper,  and  the  part  he  (my  said  father,  Wm.  Steel  Mc- 
Cormick) has  taken  in  the  construction  of  same  under  the  direction  of  his  uncle  Robert 
McCormick.  My  father's  mind  was  particularly  clear  in  regard  to  things  which  oc- 
curred in  his  early  life,  and  his  recollection  of  what  occurred  during  the  two  years 
that  he  lived  at  his  uncle  Robert  McCormick's  made  a  great  and  lasting  impression 
on  him  so  that  he  talked  much  about  his  uncle  Robert  and  his  invention  of  the  Reaper. 

(Signed)     S.  Ellex  McCormick  Raxey. 

AFFIDAVIT  OF  HENRIETTA  MARIA  McCORMICK. 
WIFE  OF  LEANDER  McCORMICK 

I  was  married  October  22,  1845.  I  had  previously  gone  to  school  with  Amanda 
McCormick,  and  became  acquainted  with  my  husband,  Leander  J.  McCormick,  at  her 
wedding  May  8th,  18-15.    I  "'^  one  of  her  bridesmaids. 

I  was  well  acquainted  with  Robert  McCormick's  family,  my  father  having  also 
been  well  acquainted  with  them.  I  always  understood  Mr.  Robert  McCormick  to 
have  been  the  inventor  of  the  Reaper.  I  learned  for  the  first  time,  shortly  after  our 
marriage,  that  he  had  given  the  invention  of  the  Reaper  to  his  son  Cyrus.  On  a  cer- 
tain occasion  Mrs.  McCormick,  her  two  daughters,  Caroline  and  Amanda,  and  myself 
being  present,  Amanda  stated  that  her  father  had  given  the  invention  of  the  Reaper 
to  her  brother  Cyrus,  under  promise  from  him,  that  he  would  make  the  whole  family 
rich  if  he  ever  made  anything  out  of  it.  Mrs.  McCormick  acquiesced  in  the  statement 
by  saying,  "I  know  Cyrus,  I  know  Cyrus.  I  know  he  will  do  what  he  has  promised, 
if  he  ever  makes  anything  out  of  it." 

Shortly  after  our  marriage  my  husband  told  me  that  he  had  made  a  valuable 
invention  in  the  Reaping  Machine  and  that  he  had  written  to  his  brother  Cyrus  at 
Brockport,  New  York,  describing  the  same.  Some  twenty-  years  aftenvards,  I  saw 
and  read  this  same  letter  with  descriptions  and  drawings  of  the  Raker's  Stand,  which 
Leander  found  among  some  of  Cyrus'  old  papers  which  had  b?en  left  at  Walnut  Grove, 
the  Old  Homestead.  The  letter  showed  the  cancelled  postage  and  was  addres-ed  in 
his  own  handwriting,  to  his  brother  Cyrus  H.  McCormick,  Brockport,  New  York, 
in  the  summer  of  1845. 


The  letter  referred  to  was  afterwards  burned  in  our  residence  in  the  Chicago 
Fire  of  October  gth,  1871.  I  remember  distinctly  the  place  in  the  bureau  drawer 
where  the  letter  was  kept. 

August  10th,  1846,  after  Mr.  Robert  McCormick's  death,  we  removed  to  the 
South  River  Farm,  which  my  husband  inherited  from  his  father,  he  having  given  it  to 
Cyrus  and  taken  it  back  on  account  of  having  had  to  pay  Cyru^'  losses  in  the  iron 
business,  in  which  he  and  Cyrus  were  interested,  with  a  man  by  the  name  of  Black. 

In  witness  whereof,  I  hereunto  affix  my  signature,  Chicago,  August,       ,  1898. 

(Signed)  Henrietta  M.  McCormick. 
Witnesses : 

A.  J.  Haffey^ 

Fred  Grier. 

I  know  the  signature  of  Mrs.  Henrietta  McCormick  and  witness  it. 

Frances  Haggerty^ 

Katie  Kavanaugh. 

AFFIDAVIT  OF  HORATIO  THOMPSON 

Rev.  Horatio  Thompson,  D.D.,  saj's  as  follows: 

Q.     Please  give  your  age,  residence  and  profession. 

A.  My  age  80  years.  Residence,  Fairfield,  Rockbridge  Co.,  Virginia.  Occupation 
— Minister  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Synod. 

Q.  Were  you  acquainted  with  Robert  McCormick,  formerly  of  Rockbridge 
County,  and  father  of  C.  H.  McCormick  and  L.  J.  McCormick,  of  Chicago;  if  so 
how  long  did  you  know  him  before  his  death  ? 

A.     I  was  acquainted  v\dth  him  from   1832  until  his  death. 

Q.  Are  you  acquainted  with  Col.  Thomas  Paxton,  West  of  Fairfield  ?  What 
is  his  standing  in  the  County  in  which  he  lives,  as  a  gentleman  of  high  standing  and 
sterling  integrity? 

A.     I  think  his  character  covers  all  that. 

Q.  Do  you  know  anything  of  the  early  history  and  invention  of  the  ^IcCormick 
Wheat  Reaper?  If  so,  please  give  a  brief  statement  of  the  invention  and  the  name 
of  the  inventor,  the  source  of  your  information  and  th.e  time  at  which  it  commences. 

A.  I  am  sure  I  never  heard  the  name  of  the  inventor  of  the  McCormick  Wheat 
Reaper  questioned  before  the  death  of  Robert  McCormick. 

Robert  McCormick  was  the  inventor  of  the  original  Wheat  Reaper.  This  I  un- 
derstood more  than  forty  years  ago.  I  saw  him  at  work  on  the  machine  in  his  shop ; 
his  whole  soul  appeared  to  be  absorbed  in  the  work  of  this  invention.  People  spoke 
of  him  as  being  engaged  in  a  foolish  undertaking.  All  persons  ascribed  it  to  Robert 
McCormick  and  to  no  other.  No  other  name  was  in  those  days  associated  with  the 
inventor,  than  that  of  Robert  McCormick. 

I  heard  Robert  McCormick  speak  himself  of  the  invention  of  the  Wheat  Reaper, 
and  he  told  me  that  he  had  every  reason  to  believe  it  would  be  a  success,  if  he  could 
get  it  arranged  to  suit  himself. 

This  Wheat  Reaper  of  Robert  McCormick's  is  the  same  improved  upon  by 
C.  H.  and  L.  J.  McCormick  and  now  manufactured  in  Chicago. 

Given  under  my  hand  this  9th  day  of  September,  1878. 

(Signed)    Horatio  Thompson. 
Attest : 

Mrs.  F.  N.  Davis, 

Eliza  Thompson. 
State  of  Virginia 
Rockbridge  County 

Personally  appeared  before  the  undersigned,  Horatio  Howe  Thompson,  a  Justice 
of  the  Peace,  in  and  for  the  County  of  Rockbridge  and  State  of  Virginia,  in  the  County 
aforesaid.     Rev.  Horatio  Thompson,  who  being  duly  sworn,  declared  on  oath  that  he 


WATER  PUWER,  INVENTED  BY  RuBT.   McCORMR'K 


subscribed  the  forcfroing  statement  bearing  date  tlie  9th  day  of  September,   1878,  and 
further  declared  that  the  facts  tlierein  set  forth  of  his  own  knowledge  arc  true,  and 
the  facts  therein  set  forth  derived  from  the  information  of  others  he  believes  to  be  true. 
Given  under  my  hand  this  September  the  ist,  1880. 

(Signed)   H.  H.  Thompson,  J.  P. 

AFFIDAVIT  OF  ZACHARIAH  McCHESNEY 

Zachariah  McChesney  says  as  follows: 

Q.     Please  give  your  age,   residence  and  occupation. 

A.     Age  82  years.    Spring  Hill.    Farmer. 

Q.  Were  you  acquainted  with  Robert  McCormick,  formerly  of  Rockbridge 
County,  and  father  of  C.  H.  McCormick  and  L.  J.  McCormick?  If  so,  how  long  did 
you  know  him  before  his  death  ? 

A.  I  was  acquainted,  and  well  acquainted  with  him,  from  my  earliest  childhood. 
I  knew  all  his  family.     We  were  distantly  related. 

Q.  Do  you  remember  anything  of  the  early  history  and  invention  of  the  Mc- 
Cormick Wheat  Reaper?  If  so,  please  give  a  brief  statement  of  the  invention  and 
the  name  of  the  inventor,  the  source  of  your  information  and  tlie  time  at  which  it 
commences. 

A.  I  knew  that  Robert  McCormick,  the  father  of  C.  H.  and  L.  J.  McCor- 
mick, was  engaged  in  studying  and  inventing  this  Wheat  Reaper  several  years  before 
it  was  put  in  markets.  Cyrus  and  Leander  were  then  boys.  Some  persons  spoke  of 
Robert's  efforts  as  folly;  others  spoke  of  his  ingenuity.  I  heard  persons  say  that  in 
making  his  experiments  with  his  Reaper,  he  worked  it  in  the  night — to  avoid  observa- 
tion I  suppose.  I  am  satisfied  that  Robert  McCormick  was  the  original  inventor  of 
the  McCormick  Wheat  Reaper;  there  was  no  doubt  about  this  at  the  time  he  was 
engaged  in  inventing  it  and  at  the  time  it  was  put  in  market. 

I  never  heard  during  the  life  time  of  Robert  McCormick  any  other  name  asso- 
ciated ^vith  the  invention  than  that  of  Robert  McCormick,  although  Cyrus,  his  son,  was 
an  efficient  aid  and  agent  for  his  father  after  the  invention  and  when  the  machine  was 
put  on  the  market  in  making  sales  of  the  Wheat  Reaper. 

I  bought  one  of  the  first  Reapers  from'  Cyrus,  who  acted  as  the  agent  for  his 
father.  I  cannot  now  give  the  year  in  which  I  first  heard  of  Robert  McCormick's  ef- 
forts to  invent  the  Reaper.  This  invention  of  Robert  McCormick  is  the  original 
of  the  now  improved  McCormick  Reaper  manufactured  in  the  City  of  Chicago  by 
Cyrus  and  Leander,  Robert's  sons. 

In  Witness  Whereof  I  have  affixed  my  name  to  this  paper  this  9th  Sep- 
tember, 1878. 


Attest : 

B.  F.  Cochran, 
Adam  McChesney. 


(Signed)  Zach.  J.  McChesney. 


AFFIDAVIT  OF  COL.  THOS.  PAXTON 

Col.  Thomas  Paxton  says  as  follows: 

Q.     Please  give  your  age,  residence  and  occupation. 

A.  My  age  is  77  years.  West  of  Fairfield  in  Rockbridge  County.  Occupation, 
Millwrighting  formerly,  now  Farming. 

Q.  Were  you  acquainted  with  Robert  McCormick  of  Rockbridge  County,  the 
father  of  C.  H.  and  L.  J.  McCormick?  If  so,  was  your  acquaintance  intimate  v>ith 
him  and  his  family  and  how  long  did  you  know  him  before  his  death? 

A.  I  was  acquainted  and  intimately  acquainted  with  Robert  McCormick  and 
knew  all  his  family  well.     I  knew  him  first  in    1827  or  8  and  knew  him  until  lili 


death.  He  was  not  a  communicative  man.  He  always  kept  his  counsel  and  business 
and  purposes  pretty  much  to  himself.  Although  at  times  he  would  speak  somewhat 
of  his  business  to  his  personal  friends. 

Q.  Do  you  remember  anything  of  the  early  history  and  invention  of  the  Mc- 
Cormick  Wheat  Reaper?  If  so,  please  give  a  brief  statement  of  the  invention,  the  name 
of  the  inventor,  the  opportunities  you  had  of  learning,  the  sources  of  your  informa- 
tion and  the  time  at  which  it  commences. 

A.  The  first  of  my  recollection  is,  although  I  think  I  heard  frequently  before, 
that  Robert  McCormick  was  inventing  a  Reaper.  I  was  working  for  Robert  McCor- 
mick.  I  saw  Mr.  Robert  McCormick  frequently  standing  over  the  machine  and  musing 
and  studying.  On  one  occasion  he  had  the  machine  in  the  yard,  he  was  standing  study- 
ing over  it,  drawing  down,  as  was  his  habit,  his  underlip.  Finally  he  called  me  to 
him,  the  machine  did  not  work  to  suit  him,  and  asked  me  my  opinion  about  some 
change  he  intended  making  in  his  Reaper.  I  was  a  millwright  and  working  in  the 
yard  near  him.  I  gave  him  my  advice  as  far  as  I  could,  and  then  as  he  stood  there 
studying,  I  remarked  to  the  old  gentleman:  "Mr.  McCormick,  this  is  not  Cyrus' 
invention,  it  is  yours,  is  it  not?"  He  replied  at  once:  "Yes,  but  I  intend  to  give 
Cyrus  the  benefit  of  it." 

I  have  no  doubt  myself  that  Robert  McCormick  was  the  original  inventor  of  the 
machine. 

It  was  the  general  opinion  of  the  community  around  and  about  Robert  McCormick 
that  he  was  the  inventor,  and  this  was  justified  by  the  constant  and  unremitting  labor 
and  attention  Robert  McCormick  bestowed  on  the  machine  and  his  known  ingenuity 
and  skill  in  working  and  in  inventing.  He  invented  a  Threshing  machine  and  I  erected 
one  of  them,  that  was  run  by  water. 

This  Reaper  invented  by  Robert  McCormick  is  the  same  one  improved,  that  is 
now  being  manufactured  by  Cyrus  H.  and  Leander  J.  McCormick  in  the  City  of 
Chicago. 

Given  under  my  hand  this  loth  day  of  Sept.,  1878. 

(Signed)  Thos.  S.  Paxton. 
Attest: 

John  H.  Potter, 

P.  A.  Paxton. 

LETTERS  OF  JOHN  H.  B,  SCHULTZ 

Greenville,  Sept.  26,  '94. 
Mr.  L.  J.  McCormick: 

Dear  Sir — I  was  born  March  23d,  1815,  and  was  raised  about  two  miles  from 
your  father's  residence,  consequently  knew  him  all  my  life  as  long  as  he  lived,  and 
worked  for  him  in  his  shop  at  putting  up  reapers  in  the  Spring  of  1845.  Then  your 
father  told  me  the  invention  was  a  family  concern,  but  I  always  understood  that  your 
father  Robert  McCormick  was  the  inventor  of  it. 

Yours  respectfully, 

(Signed)   John  H.  B.  Schultz. 

Greenville,  November    15,   1897. 
To  Mr.  L.  .1.  McCormick,  Chicago,  III: 

Father  says  that  your  father  was  the  first  man  that  ever  invented  a  horse  power 
Reaper,  and  he  knows  that  he  was  the  founder  of  the  first  one  ever  used  fince  the 
days  of  Adam  and  Eve.  Robert  McCormick  was  the  inventor  of  the  vibrating  motion 
to  the  cutter  and  the  reel.  Having  absolute  knowledge  of  the  above  facts,  I  give  them 
to  you  for  what  they  are  worth. 

My  age  is  83 ;  I  lived  within  two  miles  of  your  father  and  knew  him  well  as  long 
as  he  lived.  Yours  truly, 

(Signed)  J.  H.  B.  Schultz. 


LETTER  OF  HENRY  SCHULTZ 

Greenville,  Sept.  27,  1894. 
Mr.  L.  J.  McCormick: 

Dear  Sir — I  am  nearly  72  years  old,  remember  your  father  well  and  ahvaj-s 
heard  it  said  that  he  invented  the  Reaper,  and  was  frequently  in  his  shop  and  ,'aw  him 
and  yourself  at  work.  I  never  recollect  of  seeing  C.  H.  McCormick  in  the  shop  or  any 
where  else.  I  understood  that  he,  C.  H.  McCormick,  helped  to  make  some  improve- 
ment on  it  just  before  he  «ent  to  Chicago.  I  also  remember  having  heard  my  father 
say  that  he,  Robert  McCormick,  worked  on  it  in  his  father's  lifetime,  and  your  grand- 
father would  tell  him.  Ah,  Robert,  it  is  of  no  use  to  try  to  make  a  machine  to  cut 
wheat,  that  would  be  the  Devil's  works. 

Respectfully  yours, 

(Signed)   Henry  Schultz. 

LETTER  OF  THOS.  H.  McGUFFIN 

Alone,  Va.,  Oct.  26,  1894. 
Leander  J.  McCormick,  Esq.: 

Dear  Sir — ^According  to  my  promise  I  write  you  a  few  lines.  I  am  seventy- 
eight  years  old.  I  was  born  and  raised  within  one  and  a  half  miles  of  Mr.  McCormick's. 
A  reaping  machine  at  that  day  would  be  m.uch  talked  about,  and  I  do  well  know 
that  the  opinion  of  the  neighborhood  was  that  Robert  McCormick,  your  father,  was  the 
inventor  of  the  McCormick  machine.  As  both  parties  are  now  dead,  you  may  as  well 
put  the  saddle  on  the  right  horse,  for  Mr.  Robert  McCormick,  your  father,  was  the 
inventor  of  the  McCormick  Reaping  Machine  beyond  all  doubt. 
Yours  very  respectfully, 

(Signed)   Thos.  H.  McGuffin. 
Mr.  McCormick: 

At  the  request  of  Mr.  McGuffin,  I  have  written  this  letter  for  him,  as  he  is  in 
ver>-  feeble  health  and  at  present  cannot  write  very  well.  I  have  often  heard  my  father 
(Capt.  Jas.  Henn.)  say  that  Mr.  Robert  McCormick  was  the  inventor  of  the  Mc- 
Cormick Reaping  Machine.  Yours  truly, 

(Signed)   A.  Hor.-\ce   Henry. 

LETTER  OF  W^M.  STEELE 

MiDDLEBROOK,  Va.,  Jany.  22,   1895. 
Dear  Leander: 

As  there  has  been  discussion  for  sometime  upon  the  question  who  invented  the 
Reaper.  I  think  it  may  be  of  satisfaction  to  you  that  I  should  state  my  personal 
knowledge  as  to  this.  Having  been  raised  about  six  miles  from  your  father's  home, 
and  having  visited  with  your  father's  family  all  my  early  life,  I  had  many  oppor- 
tunities of  knowing  much  of  the  histor\-  of  the  Reaper.  It  was  well  kno\vn  that  your 
father  had  invented  a  successful  reaping  machine.  With  reference  to  what  is  called 
the  Raker's  Stand,  I  know  of  my  own  knowledge  that  you  were  the  inventor.  I 
cannot  believe  that  your  brother  Cyrus  ever  claimed  that  he  had  anything  to  do  with 
its  origin.  It  was  a  fortunate  thing  for  the  farmers  of  this  and  other  countries  that 
Robert  McCormick  lived  long  enough  to  originate  and  develop  a  successful  Wheat 
Reaping  Machine. 

As  Washington  was  the  Father  of  his  Countrj',  so  was  Robert  McCormick  the 
Father  of  the  Reaper,   and  will  live  in  the  hearts  of  a  grateful  people. 

Yours,  etc, 

(Signed)   Wm.  Steele. 
Witnesses : 

A.  H.  Steele, 

S.    McC.    HOGSHE.'U). 


LETTER  OF  JOHN  H.  RUSH 

Steele's  Tavern,  Augusta  Co.,  \'a.,  Nov.  20th,  1894. 
Mr.  Leander  J.  McCormick: 

In  accordance  with  your  request,  I  write  to  say  that  I  knew  your  father,  Mr. 
Robert  McCormick,  and  all  of  his  family  well.  My  father's  family  lived  within  a  mile 
of  his  home.  I  was  often  in  and  about  his  home  and  shop?.  Was  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  various  members  of  his  famil)'.  I  went  to  school  with  you.  I  remember 
you  spent  a  greater  part  of  your  early  life  with  your  father  in  the  shops,  in  building 
machinery  of  different  kinds,  reapers,  threshers,  horse  powers.  Smith's  bellows  and 
plows.  Your  father,  Robert,  had  been  experimenting  with  a  machine  for  cutting  grain 
for  many  years  and  it  was  well  known  by  his  neighbors  that  he,  Robert,  was  the 
real  inventor  of  the  reaper.  His  son  Cyrus  made  great  efforts  in  introducing  it,  and 
I  remember  that  jou  invented  the  stand  for  a  rake  to  ride  and  do  the  raking  and  that 
you  were  always  «-orking  and  improving  the  machine.  To  your  raker  stand  is  due  its 
success.     I  cannot  believe  that  Cyrus  would  have  said  that  he  was  its  inventor. 

My  age  is  73  years. 

Very  respectfully, 

(Signed)   John  H.  Rush. 

LETTER  OF  JAS.  E.  A.  GIBBS 

Raphine,  Va.,  May  31,   1899. 
Mr.  Leander  J.  McCormick: 

Dear  Sir — In  answer  to  your  letter  asking  what  I  know  about  the  invention  of 
the  McCormick  Reaper,  I  will  state  that  I  was  born  and  raised  within  four  miles  of 
the  McCormick  farm  and  from  my  earliest  recollection,  I  remember  of  hearing  that 
Robert  McCormick  was  trying  to  make  a  reaping  machine.  My  father  being  an 
invalid,  at  an  early  age  I  was  called  upon  to  make  many  trips  to  Midway  to  the  mill 
and  store,  always  passing  the  farm  and  shops,  and  having  a  mechanical  turn  of  mind, 
I  took  every  opportunity  to  see  the  work  on  the  Reaper,  as  it  was  then  called ;  at  a 
very  early  date  and  before  any  of  these  machines  were  offered  on  the  market.  I  had 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  one  at  work  in  a  back  field,  and  young  as  I  was,  I  was 
one  of  the  first  to  prophesy  success  for  the  invention.  Up  to  this  time  I  never  heard 
of  any  one  being  called  its  inventor  than  Robert  IMcCormick,  and  his  name  only 
was  used  in  connection  with  it.  I  know  of  a  shipment  of  machines  later  and  1842  via 
Richmond  and  New  Orleans  to  Springfield,  Illinois  (about  the  time  Cyrus  and  you 
removed  to  the  West)  which  were  for  Cyrus  and  in  which  he  took  a  deep  interest. 
As  to  inventions  made  by  Cyrus,  I  know  nothing;  but  of  my  own  knowledge  and  the 
universal  opinion  and  belief  of  all  of  the  citizens  of  my  age  in  this  section,  would  go 
to  prove  that  Robert  McCormick  had  so  far  made  and  perfected  the  Reaper,  as  to  make 
it  a  practical  working  machine  before  Cyrus  took  hold  of  it.  My  early  recollection 
coupled  with  my  father's  and  others'  knowledge  of  its  history  is  positive  proof  of  its 
origin  and  progress.  Yours  very  truly, 

(Signed)    Jas.   E.   A.   Gibbs. 
Witnesses : 

N.  Wyatt, 

W.  C.  Marshall,  Jr. 

LETTER  OF  SERENA  M.  C.  HOGSHEAD 

Oak  Hill,  March  7,  1899. 
Mr.  Leander  J.  McCormick: 

Dear  Sir — I  write  to  say  that  I  have  often  heard  my  father.  Dr.  John  McChes- 
ney,  speak  of  the  McCormick  Reaper,  invented  by  your  father,  Mr.  Robert  McCor- 


< 

— • 

X 

a' 
z 

< 

X 

;  J 

< 

^ 

s 

E- 

mick,  and  speak  also  of  how  hard  he  labored  to  make  a  success  of  his  conceived  idea 
of  a  reaping  machine,  which  was  ridiculed  at  the  time  by  his  neighbors  and  friends  as 
something  utterly  impossible — but  which  has  resulted,  as  the  world  knows,  in  one 
of  the  greatest  achievements  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and  due  alone  to  the  inven- 
tive genius  of  your  father.  My  father  dated  from  April  nth,  1789,  and  was  nearly 
related  to  the  family.  He  was  their  family  physician  from  1 814  to  1850,  and  in- 
timately acquainted  with  Mr.  Robert  McCormick  and  spoke  of  how  hard  he  labored 
to  bring  it  into  working  condition  and  make  a  success  of  his  conceived  idea  of  a  reaping 
machine,  which  has  resulted  as  the  world  knows  in  one  of  the  greatest  inventions  of  the 
age.  My  father  knew  much  of  the  reaper  and  its  progress  for  many  years,  and  when 
he  was  living  could  relate  incidents  in  its  history  and  would  confirm  the  testimony 
giving  the  credit  of  its  origin  to  Mr.  Robert  McCormick. 

(Signed)  Seren.\  M.  C.   Hogshead. 
Witnesses : 

Maggie  T.  Hogshead, 

Mary  B.  Hogshe/\d. 

TESTIMONY  OF  JOSEPH  ANDERSON 

Being  asked  the  question  as  to  my  knowledge  and  recollection  of  who  was  the 
original  inventor  and  maker  of  the  first  successful  McCormick  machine. 

I  know  of  my  own  knowledge  that  Mr.  Robt.  McCormick,  the  father  of  C.  H. 
and  L.  J.  McCormick,  is  the  real  inventor  of  the  first  successful  Machine,  that  is,  that 
he  was  the  inventor  of  the  first  machine  in  which  the  sickle  had  a  vibratory  or  crank 
motion  and  that  had  a  revolving  reel  with  the  horses  to  draw  the  same. 

Of  these  facts  and  statements  I  can  say  nothing  less  in  justice  to  truth  for  I  know 
it  to  be  a  fact  and  am  obliged  to  give  the  statement  as  the  facts  are. 

Very  truly  yours. 

His 
March  i6th,  1881  Joseph  X  Anderson 

Greenville,  Augusta  Co.,  Va.  Mark. 

Witnesses : 

C.  W.  Guthrie, 

J.  P.  B.  Woodward. 
State  of  Virginia 

Court 
County  of  Augusta 

This  day,  Joseph  Anderson,  colored,  whose  name  or  mark  appears  to  the  fore- 
going writing,  personally  appeared  before  the  undersigned,  a  Notary  Public  for  said 
Count)'  and  State  and  made  oath  that  the  statements  made  in  said  writing  are  correct 
and  true  in  every  particular  as  therein  stated,  and  that  the  said  statements  are  made  of 
his  own  knowledge,  and  the  said  Joseph  Anderson  further  acknowledged  his  signa- 
ture thereto  before  me — and  he  further  states  that  he  believes  himself  to  be  in  his 
73d  year. 

Given  under  my  hand  and  Notarial  Seal  this  3d  day  of  August,  A.  D.,  1881. 
Joseph  B.  Woodward,  Notary  Public 
for  Augusta  Co.,  Va. 

Joseph  Anderson  was  a  slave  of  Robert  McCormick's,  but  later  was  owned  by 
Cyrus  H.  McCormick  to  whom  he  belonged  thereafter  until  he  became  free.  He 
was  about  the  same  age  as  Cyrus  McCormick. 

COPIED  FROM  THE  McCORMICK  EXTENSION  CASE 
OF  1848 

House  of  William  S.  McCormick,  March  17th,  1848. 
Agreeable  to  an  order  made  on  the  23d  ult  by  the  Board  of  Commissioners  for 


extending  pattents,  and  according  to  notice  given  to  Obed  Hussey  of  Batimore,  by  C.  H. 
McCormick  of  this  place,  Dr.  N.  M.  Hitt. 

Appeared  before  me,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  in,  and  for,  Augusta  County,  Va. 
as  a  witness  to  testify  in  relation  to  certain  matters  touching  the  invention  of  a  Reap- 
ing Machine  in  which  said  Hussey  &  McCormick  have  conflicting  claims  &  interests 
said  witness  after  first  being  duly  sworn,  states  as  follows — Viz  said  Hussey  &  McCor- 
mick being  present: 

Question  by  C.  H.  McCormick 

What  do  you  know  relative  to  the  conftrur.tion  of  a  reaping  Machine  invented 
by  me 

Ans.  During  the  summer  of  1 83 1  I  saw  Mr.  Robert  McCormick  &  Mr.  C.  H. 
McCormick,  engaged  in  building  a  Reaping  Machine  and  Requested  them  to  let  me 
know  when  they  got  it  completed,  that  I  wished  to  see  it  operate,  they  did  so  and  I  came 
to  their  plantation  and  saw  it. — to  the  best  of  my  recollection  in  the  Latter  part  of 
July  183 1.  It  was  drawn  by  a  horse  or  horses,  I  do  not  recolect  v.hich,  with  wheels. 
Cut  with  a  strait  sickel  blade.  Set  in  motion  by  a  Crank  &  the  wheet  fell  upon  a 
platform  and  to  the  best  of  my  recollection  it  Cut  about  six  feet  wide,  the  Horse  that 
drew  the  Machine  Walked  forward  and  on  one  side  of  the  wheat. 

Question  by  Mr.  Obed  Hussey 

Are  you  posative  as  the  year  in  which  you  saw  it  Operate. 

Ans.     Just  as  posative  as  I  am,  of  sitting  upon  the  Chaire  on  which  I  now  sit. 

N.  M.  Hm 

I  hereby  cirtify  that  the  foregoing  depositians  of  Dr.  N.  M.  Hitt  was  duely  taken 
as  it  appears  before  me,  said  Hussey  &  McCormick  being  present,  and  I  have  sealed 
up  the  same  &  directed  to  the  Commissioners  of  Pattents  this  17th  day  of  March — 
1848 

James  Henry,  J.  p. 

Testimony  of  James  Hall  Shields 

Concerning  the  Invention  of 

the  McCormick  Reaper 

This  is  to  certify  that  I,  James  Hall  Shields,  of  Highland  Park, 
Lake  County,  Illinois,  son  of  Rev.  James  and  Mary  Caroline  Shields, 
and  grandson  of  Robert  McCormick,  was  born  in  Juniatta  County, 
Penna.,  in  1849. 

After  the  death  of  my  father,  which  occurred  on  Aug.  19,  1862, 
I  came  to  live  in  Chicago,  accompanied  by  my  mother  and  sister 
Amanda,  and  resided  there  continuously  until  July,  1886,  when  I  re- 
moved to  Highland  Park,  Illinois. 

From  April,  1868,  until  November  31,  1882,  (excepting  about  a 
year  and  a  half,  from  the  summer  of  1873  to  the  spring  of  1875,)  I 
was  continuously  in  the  employ  of  my  uncles  C.  H.  and  L.  J.  McCor- 
mick in  the  office  of  the  reaper  works,  and  for  the  last  few  years  of 
my  service  I  had  entire  charge  of  the  printing  and  advertising,  as 
well  as  holding  the  position  of  purchasing  agent  for  the  company; 
and  thus  I  became  very  familiar  with  all  departments  of  the  reaper 
business.  I  was  from  my  boyhood  on  the  most  friendly  terms  with 
both  my  uncles  Cyrus  and  Lcander  McCormick,  but  as  I  saw  much 


more  of  my  uncle  Leander  I  was  on  the  most  intimate  terms  with 
him,  and  continued  so  until  the  time  of  his  death  in  February,  1900. 

Uncle  Leander  talked  a  great  deal  with  me  and  with  my  mother 
and  others  in  my  presence  concerning  his  father  and  mother  and 
early  home  life,  as  well  as  of  all  his  business  affairs,  and  he  frequently 
related  to  me  the  story  of  his  father's  inventive  genius  and  spoke  of  his 
various  inventions,  such  as  a  horse  power,  a  hemp  brake,  a  blacksmith 
bellows,  a  machine  for  cleaning  hemp,  a  threshing  machine,  a  clover 
sheller,  a  water  power,  etc.,  but  principally  and  above  all  others  of 
his  invention  of  the  reaping  machine. 

About  the  year  1894  ^Y  Uncle  Leander  McCormick  showed  me  a 
number  of  models  he  had  made  of  various  machines  his  father,  Rob- 
ert McCormick,  had  invented,  and  I  have  frequently  seen  these  same 
models  in  his  office,  and  since  his  death  in  the  office  of  his  son,  R.  Hall 
McCormick,  in  whose  possession  I  have  again  seen  and  identified  them 
this  day. 

These  models  consisted  of  a  reaper,  which  Uncle  Leander  told  me 
was  invented,  constructed,  and  operated  by  Robert  McCormick  in 
1831 ;  a  tub  shaped  bellow's;  two  different  kinds  of  hemp  brakes;  one 
stalk  cutter  with  a  cone  shaped  horse  power  attachment;  one  crush- 
ing machine,  with  horse  power  attachment;  one  hydraulic  engine. 

About  the  year  1886  I  wrote  out  descriptions  of  some  of  these  in- 
ventions under  the  supervision  of  Uncle  Leander,  and  by  his  instruc- 
tion, of  which  the  following  is  a  verbatim  copy: 

The  first  record  of  Robert  McCormick's  endeavors  in  the  line  of  invention  was 
in  the  construction  of  a  reaping  machine  about  the  year  1809  or  10.  But  although 
many  of  the  principles  of  that  machine  were  substantially  the  same  as  those  of  chief  im- 
portance in  nearly  all  of  the  present  reaping  machines,  nevertheless,  it  was  too  crude  and 
imperfect  to  be  a  success. 

The  next  effort  he  made  in  the  same  line  that  is  known  of  was  about  the  year 
1820,  when  he  constructed  another  machine  for  cutting  wheat,  which  was  in  out- 
line and  general  form  almost  exactly  like  the  two  wheeled  reaper  of  the  present  day. 
It  had  two  wheels  as  carriers,  with  gearing,  a  cutting  apparatus,  and  platform  to  re- 
ceive the  grain  in  the  rear  of  the  cutting  apparatus.  The  cutters,  however,  were 
stationary'  and  curved.  The  machine  had  vertical  reels  (very  similar  to  the  vertical 
reels  used  at  the  present  day),  to  sweep  the  grain  across  the  cutters,  and  when  cut 
the  grain  was  delivered  on  a  platform,  in  the  rear  of  the  cutters,  and  with  an  endless 
apron  carried  across  the  platform  and  delivered  to  one  side  of  the  machine.  The  horses 
walked  along  at  the  side  of  the  grain,  drawing  the  machine,  being  attached  to  the  same 
by  shafts  or  a  pole. 

This  machine,  like  its  predecessor,  was  not  a  success,  but  had  the  main  features 
that  are  vital  in  the  construction  of  all  grain  and  grass  cutting  machines  of  the  present 
day. 

The  parts  of  this  machine  were  for  many  years  stored  away  in  the  loft  of  the 
old  malt  house,  on  the  farm,  and  were  familiar  objects  to  those  about  the  farm. 

The  third  efifort  in  the  reaping  machine  line  was  crowned  with  success.  In  its 
main  features  this  machine  embodied  the  vital  principles  of  all  successful  grain  cutting 


machinery  of  the  present  day.  It  was  drawn  by  two  horses  that  walked  in  front  of  the 
main  frame,  and  close  to  the  standing  grain.  It  had  one  main  driving  wheel  in  the 
main  frame,  and  a  grain  wheel  at  the  outer  end  of  the  platform.  It  had  a  cutter  bar, 
attached  to  and  back  of  which  was  the  platform,  on  which  the  grain  fell.  The  grain 
was  cut  by  a  vibrating  sickle,  and  drawn  in  to  the  sickle,  and  cast  down  upon  the  plat- 
form by  a  revolving  overhanging  reel  which  had  slats  or  ribs  which  dipped  unto 
the  grain  in  front  of  the  sickle. 

The  grain  divider  of  this  machine  was  a  long  pointed  piece  of  wood  extending 
some  five  feet  forward  of  the  cutter  bar,  with  an  upright  post  some  ten  inches  forward 
of  the  sickle,  to  support  the  grain  end  of  the  reel.  The  entire  side  of  the  machine, 
from  the  point  of  the  divider  named  to  the  rear  corner  of  the  platform  and  across 
the  back  of  the  platform,  was  surrounded  with  an  upright  canvas  about  three  feet  in 
width.  The  grain  was  raked  off  at  the  side  in  bundles  by  a  man  who  walked  along 
beside  the  machine.  The  driver  did  not  ride  on  the  machine  but  on  one  of  the  horses 
that  drew  it. 

The  last  named  machine  Uncle  Leander  frequently  told  me  was 
built  in  1 83 1,  in  grandfather's  shop  on  his  home  farm,  and  was  suc- 
cessfully operated  in  a  field  on  his  farm  that  and  succeeding  years. 
Uncle  Leander  also  stated  that  his  father  gave  this  machine  to  his 
son,  Cyrus,  and  that  it  was  patented  by  Cyrus  in  1834.  He  also  stated 
that  his  brother,  Cyrus,  worked  in  the  shop  under  his  father's  direc- 
tion, in  the  construction  of  parts  of  this  machine,  and  that  his  cousin, 
William  S.  McCormick,  and  Sam  Hight,  were  the  principal  work- 
men in  his  father's  shop  at  that  time  in  the  making  of  this  reaper. 

Uncle  Leander  also  stated  frequently  to  me  that  the  only  differ- 
ence between  the  machine  as  invented  and  constructed  by  his  father 
in  183 1,  and  the  machine  patented  by  his  brother  Cyrus  in  1834,  was 
that  Cyrus  attached  the  horses  to  the  rear  of  the  machine,  as  shown 
and  described  in  his  patent,  whereas  Robert  McCormick  never  con- 
structed a  machine  to  be  propelled  on  that  plan. 

My  mother,  Mary  Caroline  Shields,  also  frequently  talked  with 
me  about  her  father  and  his  great  inventive  genius,  and  in  all  her  con- 
versation in  relation  to  her  father's  invention  of  the  reaping  machine 
she  coincided  with  the  statements  I  have  related  as  being  given  me  by 
Uncle  Leander  in  regard  to  the  description  of  the  machine  invented 
by  her  father.  She  also  stated  to  me  many  times  that  she  saw  this 
machine  cut  grain  in  the  harvests  of  1832  and  1833,  and  that  she  knew 
it  to  have  been  the  sole  invention  of  her  father — also  that  her  father, 
at  the  earnest  entreaty  of  her  mother,  gave  the  invention  of  the  ma- 
chine to  her  brother  Cyrus  under  the  explicit  promise  from  Cyrus 
that  if  he  ever  made  a  success  of  the  reaper  all  the  family  should  be 
enriched  by  it. 

In  this  connection  my  mother  made  the  following  statement  to 
me,  which  I  wrote  out  in  1886: 


Father  never  failed  in  anything  he  tried  to  do.  He  invented  several  machines 
which  he  built  at  home,  and  made  money  by  building,  but  never  patented.  Ma  per- 
suaded father  to  give  the  invention  of  the  reaper  to  brotlier  Cyrus,  and  it  took  a  great 
deal  of  persuasion  too.  Ma's  argument  with  father  was,  I  am  sure,  I  would  rather 
give  the  honor  of  the  invention  to  my  son  than  to  have  it  myself.  Father  said,  but  I 
owe  it  equally  to  my  other  children.  Ma  said,  Cyrus  has  promised  me  that  if  the 
reaper  is  made  a  success  all  the  children  shall  be  interested  in  it,  and  I  know  he  will 
do  it.  So  he  gave  the  invention  to  brother  Cyrus,  and  as  long  as  ma  lived  she  repeated 
to  me  when  she  had  opportunity,  and  to  sister  Amanda,  the  promise  Cyrus  had  made 
her,  and  she  told  the  same  to  Henrietta. 

My  mother  in  her  statements  to  me  also  coincided  with  the  state- 
ments of  others  to  the  effect  that  it  was  a  matter  of  family  knowledge 
and  tradition  that  her  father  had  invented,  built  and  experimented 
with  one  or  more  reaping  machines  from  a  very  early  date,  beginning 
before  she  was  born,  and  that  he  so  continued  his  efforts  in  that  direc- 
tion until  his  labors  were  crowned  with  success  by  the  machine  he 
invented  and  built  in  183 1,  and  operated  that  and  succeeding  years. 
Also,  that  he  continued  to  be  actively  engaged  in  experimenting  on, 
improving  and  building  his  reaping  machines  until  the  time  of  his 
death  in  1846,  and  that  Uncle  Leander  McCormick  worked  with  his 
father  in  the  shops  building  reapers,  blacksmith's  bellows,  and  other 
machinery.  Again,  my  mother  and  Uncle  Leander  McCormick  both 
told  me  that  their  father  had  invented,  manufactured  and  sold  a  hill- 
side plow,  but  they  never  gave  me  any  description  of  it. 

In  my  close  and  intimate  association  with  my  cousins  (the  sons 
and  daughters  of  my  uncles,  William  S.  and  Leander  J.  McCormick, 
and  Aunt  Amanda  Adams)  we  have  often  talked  over  the  subject  of 
my  grandfather  Robert  McCormick's  inventions,  and  it  was  our  com- 
mon understanding  and  tradition  that  Robert  McCormick  was  the 
original  inventor  of  the  reaper,  and  that  he  gave  the  invention  to  his 
son,  Cyrus  Hall  McCormick,  who  took  out  a  patent  for  the  same  in 
June  21,  1834. 

Again  in  reference  to  Robert  McCormick's  various  inventions, 
under  the  instruction  of  L^ncle  Leander  McCormick,  I  wrote  out  in 
1886  the  following  descriptions  of  other  inventions  made  by  his 
father,  Robert  McCormick. 

"In  the  winter  of  1830-1,  there  was  a  great  deal  of  talk  and  much  in  the  news- 
papers on  the  subject  of  raising  hemp.  Only  one  thing  seemed  to  be  in  the  way  of  its 
becoming  a  very  profitable  product,  and  that  was  the  difficulty  of  cheaply  and  prolitably 
reducing  the  fiber  to  its  required  marketable  shape.  Acting  on  this  seen.ing  demand, 
Robert  McCormick  invented  a  ver\^  ingenious  and  perfect-working  hemp  break,  and  in 
connection  with  it  a  horse  power,  by  which  it  was  worked,  and  in  the  fall  of  1831  he 
operated  it,  and  it  was  pronounced  a  perfect  success.  He  also  invented  another  ma- 
chine for  cleaning  the  hemp  when  broken.  The  e.vcitement  over  hemp  raising,  how- 
ever, died  out,  the  demand  for  the  machine^  never  amounted  to  much,  although  a 
number  of  them  were  built  and  sold,  one  or  two  being  sold  in  Kentucky  by  his  son 


Cyrus,  whom  he  sent  there  in  the  fall  of  1 83 1  to  introduce  them,  as  hemp  \^■as  cul- 
tivated more  extensively  in  Kentucky  than  in  Virginia. 

Robert  McCormick  also  invented  and  manufactured  an  ingenious  threshing 
machine,  which  had  a  vertical  shaft,  through  which  arms  were  framed,  and  on  which 
was  a  rim  or  wheel,  of  about  five  feet  in  diameter,  having  a  plane  on  its  top  surface 
on  which  bars  were  made  fast  to  form  beaters;  over  these  bars  were  suspended  a  sta- 
tionary section,  on  the  underside  of  which  there  were  bars,  between  which  and  those 
on  the  plane  of  the  wheel  below  the  grain  was  threshed.  He  also  had  in  connection 
with  this  thresher  a  horse  power  of  peculiar  construcion,  which  consisted  of  a  ring  01 
platform  of  logs  about  thirty  feet  in  diameter,  on  which  was  a  roller  about  fifteen  feet 
long,  extending  from  the  center  over  the  platform ;  tlie  outer  end  of  this  roller  was 
perhaps  two  feet  in  diameter,  and  was  pivoted  in  a  center  post,  which  post  revolved  by 
the  turning  of  the  roller.  On  the  inner  end  of  this  roller  was  a  large  band  wheel,  and 
on  top  of  the  center  post  was  a  pulley.  The  belt  from  the  band  wheel  had  its  direction 
changed  to  the  pulley  above  by  the  use  of  intermediate  pulleys.  With  this  machine 
he  afterwards  used  bevel  gearing. 

He  also  built  a  clover  sheller  of  stone,  resembling  an  ordinary  mill  somewhat, 
but  never  did  anything  with  it  except  for  its  own  u'e. 

He  also  invented  and  made  a  blacksmith  bellows,  which  was  of  a  tub  form, 
and  of  which  he  built  and  sold  a  large  number. 

He  also  invented  a  water  power  that  worked  by  confined  pressure,  something 
on  the  principle  of  a  steam  engine. 

At  my  request  my  mother  wrote,  in  a  little  memoranda  book,  at 
considerable  length  the  story  of  her  ancestry,  her  early  home  life,  and 
many  incidents  concerning  her  father  and  mother,  including  her 
knowledge  of  her  father's  inventions,  which  book  I  have  in  my  pos- 
session. 

IN  WITNESS  WHEREOF  I  have  hereto  set  my  hand  this 
twelfth  day  of  September,  A.  D.  1910. 

JAMES  H.  SHIELDS. 
State  of  Illinois 


Cook  County       f     '  * 

Personally  appeared  before  me,  a  Notary  Public,  within  and  for  the  Count>- 
of  Cook,  and  State  of  Illinois,  on  the  I2th  day  of  September,  A.  D.,  igio,  James  Hall 
Shields,  who  being  duly  sworn  says  that  the  foregoing  statement  is  tme  in  substance 
and  fact. 

In  Testimony  Whereof  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and  affixed  my  official 
seal  the  day  and  year  above  written. 

Jas.  J.  Powers, 

Notary  Public. 

Testimony  of  R.  Hall  McCormick, 

Concerning  Invention  of  the 

McCormick  Reaper 

This  is  to  testify  that  I,  R.  Hall  McCormick,  son  of  Leander  J. 
and  Henrietta  M.  Hamilton  McCormick,  and  grandson  of  Robert 
McCormick,  was  born  in  1847  in  Rockbridge  County,  Virginia. 

As  the  different  members  of  the  family  were  intimately  associated 


with  each  other,  the  principal  topic  of  conversation  was  in  regard  to 
the  reaper,  its  progress  and  invention,  and  1  was  told  many  times  that 
the  reaper  was  invented  by  Robert  McCormick  in  1 831,  he  having 
spent  many  years  experimenting  with  various  reapers,  but  he  had 
never  brought  one  to  a  state  of  perfection  until  183 1,  when  he  made  it 
a  successful  machine,  and  this  was  the  tradition  of  the  family. 

A  model  of  this  machine,  together  with  models  of  other  inventions 
of  Robert  McCormick,  are  in  my  possession,  which  were  made  by 
J.  C.  Seyl,  a  model  maker,  under  the  direction  of  my  father  in  1894; 
he  gave  them  to  me,  and  told  me  at  the  time  that  they  were  models  of 
the  inventions  of  his  father,  Robert  McCormick,  including  improve- 
ments he  had  added.  On  one  of  these  models  is  shown  the  rakers'  and 
drivers'  seat,  the  grain  or  castor  wheel,  (which  avoided  its  plowing 
into  the  ground  when  the  machine  turned  a  corner,)  the  divider 
(which  divided  the  cut  from  the  standing  grain),  the  shipper  (that 
threw  the  machine  in  and  out  of  gear),  and  the  bridles  (on  which  the 
machine  could  be  changed  to  higher  or  lower  cut) .  All  these  im- 
provements to  the  reaper  my  father  told  me  he  had  added  to  the  ma- 
chine. 

In  all  my  intimate  relationship  with  the  different  members  of  the 
family,  I  never  heard  the  invention  of  the  McCormick  reaper  attrib- 
uted to  any  person  than  Robert  McCormick. 

By  family  tradition  I  learned  that  from  183 1  on  the  machines 
were  manufactured  in  Virginia  continuously  up  to  1846,  my  grand- 
father and  father  making  them  while  Cyrus  took  charge  of  the  sales, 
and  introduced  them  throughout  the  country,  and  William  S.  looked 
after  the  farming  interests.  Different  members  of  the  family  have 
often  told  me  that  my  grandfather  had  given  the  invention  of  this 
machine  to  his  son  Cyrus,  who  obtained  a  patent  on  it  in  1834,  after 
he  had  changed  it  so  that  it  was  pushed  by  a  horse  from  behind  in- 
stead of  being  pulled  by  a  horse  in  front. 

I  also  heard  from  the  different  members  of  the  family  that  my 
grandfather  was  regarded  as  an  inventive  genius,  having  invented 
and  constructed  many  other  useful  machines,  some  of  which  he  pat- 
ented and  some  of  which  he  did  not.  Among  them  were  horse-pow- 
ers, hemp-brake,  blacksmith's  bellows,  threshing  machine,  clover- 
sheller,  water-power  and  hillside  plow. 

The  first  machine  I  personally  remember  was  called  the  OLD 
RELIABLE,  and  I  always  understood  it  was  the  original  machine 
with  certain  improvements,  which  I  have  heretofore  described  as 
added  by  my  father.  This  machinery  was  taken  to  London  in  1851  and 
received  the  leading  honors  of  the  Exposition. 


As  I  have  stated  above,  immediately  upon  the  arrival  of  my 
father  in  Chicago  in  1848  he  took  charge  of  the  mechanical  depart- 
ment of  the  reaper  works,  and  when  William  S.  came  to  Chicago  in 
1849  he  assumed  charge  of  the  office  and  establishing  of  agencies  for 
selling  machines.  The  original  contracts  between  Cyrus  H.,  William 
S.  and  Leander  J.  McCormick  are  in  my  possession. 

On  leaving  college  I  connected  myself  with  the  firm  of  C.  H. 
McCormick  &  Brother,  but  my  active  work  did  not  begin  until  the 
fall  of  1871,  when  I  took  a  position  on  a  salary,  and  was  admitted  as  a 
member  of  the  firm  in  1874.  I  remained  with  the  firm  until  the  in- 
corporation of  the  business  in  1870,  when  I  was  assigned  to  the  posi- 
tion of  assistant  manager  of  the  manufacturing  department.  I  was 
active  in  the  harvest  field  and  made  improvements  which  were  pat- 
ented and  used  on  both  reapers  and  binders. 

I  personally  conducted  the  field  trials  at  the  Centennial  Exposi- 
tion in  1876  and  thus  took  an  active  part  in  introducing  to  the  public 
the  self  binder,  one  of  the  greatest  labor-saving  inventions  of  the  age. 
Shortly  after  the  company's  incorporation,  I  retired  from  active  par- 
ticipation in  the  business. 

IN  WITNESS  WHEREOF,  I  hereto  set  my  hand  and  seal  this 
tenth  day  of  September,  Nineteen  Hundred  and  Ten. 

R.  Hall  McCormick. 

Affidavit  of  Katharine  Medill  McCormick 

Wife  of  Robert  S.  McCormick, 
Formerly  Ambassador  to  Austria,  Russia  and  France 

I  was  married  to  Mr.  Robert  S.  McCormick,  a  grandson  of 
Robert  McCormick  the  inventor,  in  June,  1876.  At  that  time  the 
inventor's  two  daughters,  Mrs.  Shields  and  Mrs.  Adams,  and  his 
two  sons,  Mr.  Cyrus  H.  McCormick  and  Mr.  Leander  J.  McCor- 
mick, were  all  alive,  also  my  mother-in-law,  widow  of  William  S. 
McCormick.  I  always  lived  on  aflfectionate  and  friendly  terms 
with  all  of  these  and  saw  them  constantly,  as  we  dwelt  in  the  same 
neighborhood.  I  never  heard  at  any  time,  until  within  the  last  few 
years,  any  word  that  could  possibly  question  the  fact  that  Robert 
McCormick  was  the  inventor  of  the  Reaper.  My  husband,  Mrs. 
Shields,  Mrs.  Adams,  my  mother-in-law,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Leander  J. 
McCormick,  each  and  every  one  always  stated  that  Robert  McCor- 
mick, the  grandfather  of  my  husband,  was  the  inventor  of  the 
McCormick   Reaper,    and    this   was    accepted   as   tradition    in    and 


throughout  the  whole  family.  Many  times  they  told  me  the  story 
of  the  horses  running  away  with  the  machine  in  the  field  and  cutting 
a  swath,  thus  proving  itself  to  his  doubting  neighbors.  I  knew 
Mr.  Cyrus  H.  McCormick  intimately,  and  in  all  the  years  of  our 
acquaintance,  I  never  heard  him  claim  to  have  invented  the  Reaper. 

Katharine  Medill  McCormick. 
Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  tvventy-first  day  of  Sep- 
tember, A.  D.,  1910.  EmelYxX  L.  Kemper, 
[seal]  Notary  Public. 

Mary  Caroline  (McCormick)  Shields  under 
date  of  January  17.  1883,  writes: 

In  the  \^inter  og  1830  and  '31  there  was  a  great  deal  of  talk  and  a  great  deal  in 
the  papers  on  the  subject  of  raising  hemp.  There  was  only  one  thing  that  seemed  to 
prevent  its  being  made  a  verj-  profitable  product  b\'  farmers,  and  that  was  the  dif- 
ficulty of  working  it.  My  father  went  to  work  and  invented  a  hemp  break  and  a 
horse  power  by  which  it  was  operated,  and  in  the  fall  of  '31,  I  saw  that  machine  in 
operation,  breaking  hemp,  and  I  ne\-er  saw  anything  perform  its  work  more  beau- 
tifully; it  was  certainly  a  perfect  success.  In  the  fall  of  '31  brother  Cyrus  went  to  Ken- 
tuck}-  to  introduce  this  m.achine,  as  hemp  was  more  extensively  cultivated  in  Ken- 
tucky than  Virginia.  Brother  Cyrus  remained  in  Kentucky  through  the  winter.  The 
trip  did  not  amount  to  anything  but  it  cost  father  a  good  deal  of  money.  Father 
never  did  anything  more  with  the  hemp  break.  I  remained  at  school  at  the  Rev.  Mor- 
rison's until  the  last  of  March,  1832.  In  June  brother  Cyrus  came  down  to  Staunton 
to  see  me,  and  I  ren-cmber  how  overjoyed  I  was  to  see  him,  as  I  had  not  seen  him 
since  the  day  he  left  i  r  Kentucky  and  he  had  not  returned  when  I  left  home  for  school. 

Being  brought  i:p  in  the  countrj-  where  my  companions  were  chiefly  my  father 
and  mother,  my  brothers  and  sisters,  my  attachment  for  my  home  was  ver\-  great,  and 
Mr.  Thacher,  who  was  principal  of  the  Seminar}",  gave  us  a  week  of  vacation  begin- 
ning 1st  of  July.  I  remember  how  happy  I  was  to  get  home  and  our  home  was  a 
cheerful,  happy  home. 

WTiile  I  was  at  lome  a  young  gentleman  from  Staunton,  a  brother  of  a  very  in- 
timate friend  and  schoolmate  of  mine,  called  to  see  me,  and  as  we  sat  in  the  parlor 
ma  came  in  and  asked  us  to  walk  wn'th  her  to  the  field  back  of  the  orchard  where  my 
father  was  trj-ing  a  machine  which  he  had  invented  to  cut  wheat.  Father  and  ma 
and  others  present  were  delighted  with  the  operation  of  the  reaper.  This  machine  had 
a  reel  which  drew  the  wheat  in  and  the  wheat  was  cut  by  a  vibrating  sickle  and  fell 
on  the  platform.  A  man  walking  along  beside  this  platform  raked  off  the  wheat  in 
bundles  the  ready  for  binding.  This  was  in  the  summer  of  1832;  I  was  then  a  few 
months  over  fifteen  years  of  age.  The  last  of  September  my  school  closed  and,  although 
I  was  anxious  to  go  to  school  longer,  father  thought  he  could  not  afford  the  expen'^e. 
My  father  had  been  experim.enting  for  several  years  with  his  machine  to  reap  wheat 
and  regretted  each  year  that  the  shortness  of  the  time  of  har\-est  prevented  his  ex- 
perimenting, as  much  as  he  desired  to  do.  In  the  han-est  of  1833  I  saw  this  reaper 
cut  wheat  again  in  the  field  near  to  Mr.  John  Weirs.  I  walked  to  the  field  with  a 
gentleman  who  was  stopping  for  a  few  days  at  my  father's.  This  man's  name  was 
Gray  and,  although  he  was  a  devoted  admirer  of  mine.  I  perfectly  hated  him.  At 
that  time  and  at  my  aee  I  did  not  think  much  about  the  value  of  machiner>'.  I  did 
not  realize  a«  I  might  have  done  the  great  invention  and  the  great  natural  inventive 
genius  of  my  dearly  beloved  father.  As  cousin  William  McCormick,  who  lived  with 
us  for  several  years,  about  this  time,  said.     My  old  uncle  never  failed  in  anything 


he  ever  undertook.  Father  invented  several  machines  which  he  built  at  home,  made 
money  by  building  and  selling  them,  but  never  patented.  Brother  Cyrus  was  the  first 
born  of  my  parents ;  he  was  a  smart  boy  and  always  very  much  indulged  by  my  mother. 
It  seemed  to  me  that  ma  thought  his  opinion  on  every  subject  was  just  right  and 
if  she  differed  with  him  on  any  subject,  he  never  rested  until  he  had  convinced  her  that 
he  was  right.  Whatever  brother  Cyrus  wanted  if  he  could  not  get  his  way  from 
father  he  always  went  to  ma  and  through  her  he  was  generally  successful.  Brother 
Cyrus  never  liked  to  work  on  the  farm  and  I  remember  when  I  was  about  twelve 
years  of  age  of  his  having  a  great  desire  to  be  rich  and  of  his  trying  to  find  some 
means  of  accumulating  money,  not  liking  the  life  of  a  farmer.  Ma  persuaded  father 
to  give  the  invention  of  the  reaper  to  brother  Cyrus,  and  it  took  a  great  deal  of  persua- 
sion too.  Ma's  argument  with  father  was,  I  am  sure  I  would  rather  give  the  honor 
of  the  invention  to  my  son  than  to  have  it  myself.  Father  said,  But  I  owe  it  equally 
to  the  other  children.  Ma  replied,  Cyrus  has  promised  me  that  if  the  reaper  is  made 
a  success  all  the  children  shall  be  interested  in  it  and  I  know  he  will  keep  his  word. 

Mary  Caroline   Shield.s. 


Last  Will  and  Testament  of 
Robert  McCormick 

I,  Robert  McCormick,  of  the  County  of  Rockbridge,  and  State  of  Virginia,  do 
make  and  publish  this  my  last  will  and  testament,  hereby  revoking  and  making 
void  all  other  wills  heretofore  m.ade  by  me,  in  the  manner  and  form  following,  viz: 

1st:  I  desire  that  my  funeral  expenses  and  all  my  just  debts  be  paid  as  soon  after 
my  decease  as  practicable. 

and :  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  beloved  wife  Mary,  one-third  part  of  my  estate  in 
lands  during  her  natural  life,  and  my  negro  woman  Hannah,  and  Preston  and  Eras- 
mus, and  also  my  barouche  and  harness  to  be  disposed  of  by  her  as  she  may  think 
proper. 

3rd:  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  daughter  Amanda  two  beds,  bedsteads,  and  furni- 
ture and  a  suitable  outfit  for  housekeeping  and  the  proceeds  of  ten  machines  made  and 
sold  this  season,  with  their  profits  or  losses  after  deducting  all  expenses  of  building,  and 
a  family  of  negroes,  viz:  Sally,  her  two  children,  Mary  and  and 

(which  family  I  estimate  at  a  thousand  dollars)  together  with  the  sum  of  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  dollars,  including  any  sum  I  may  have  given  to  her  or  paid  for 
Hugh  Adams  since  her  marriage,  to  be  paid  as  follows,  viz:  Five  hundred  dollars  on  the 
first  day  of  Septem.ber  next,  and  the  balance  in  equal  annual  payments  of  (say  five 
hundred  dollars)  it  being  understood  that  a  part  of  this  legacy  (say  one  thousand  dol- 
lars) has  and  will  have  been  paid  before  the  first  of  September  next. 

4th :  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  daughter  Caroline  her  living  on  the  plantation  in 
a  comfortable  style  so  long  as  she  remains  unmarried  (she  devoting  her  care  and  atten- 
tion to  the  interest  of  her  brother)  also  two  beds,  bedsteads,  and  furniture  and  a  suit- 
able outfit  for  housekeeping,  and  the  proceeds  of  ten  machines,  made  and  sold  this 
season,  with  their  profits  and  losses,  after  deducting  all  expenses  of  building,  etc.,  and  the 
further  sum  of  two  thousand  and  eight  hundred  dollars,  bearing  interest  atter  the  first 
day  of  June,  1847,  and  payable  in  four  equal  annual  installments  of  seven  hundred  dol- 
lars each,  after  and  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1848;  and  also  a  family  of  negroes, 
viz:  Peggy,  her  three  children — Fanny,  Amos  and  a  sucking  child. 

5th:  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  son  Cyrus  H.  my  negro  boy  Sam,  and  girl  Emily, 
and  I  hereby  acknowledge  myself  indebted  to  him  in  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
nine  dollars  and  seventy-two  cents  upon  a  settlement  made  on  the  third  day  of  February, 
1846,  as  also  in  the  further  sum  of  fifteen  dollars  on  each  machine  made  and  sold 
this  season,  the  sale  of  which  may  or  will  have  been  actually  received. 

6th:  I  give  and  bequeath  to  my  son  Leander  in  addition  to  the  plantation  already 
deeded  to  him,  a  bed,  a  bedstead  and  furniture  and  my  negro  man  Dick,  and  also  the 


proceeds  of  one-third  of  all  the  machines  made  and  sold  this  season,  after  deductini;  all 
expenses  in  building,  delivering,  etc.,  said  machines,  about  which  there  exists  a  specific 
agreement,  also  a  bay  horse  seven  years  old,  a  little  sorrel  mare  three  or  four  years  old, 
and  a  bay  horse  now  in  his  possession. 

7th:  I  will  and  bequeath  to  my  son  John  a  horse,  saddle  and  bridle,  and  my 
negro  boy  Rufus  and  the  sum  of  three  thousand  dollars  to  be  paid  to  him  in  six  equal 
annual  installments  of  five  hundred  dollars  each,  the  first  to  fall  due  one  year  after  my 
decease,  giving  to  my  executor  the  privilege  of  extending  the  time  on  any  or  all  these 
installments  four  years,  should  his  circumstances  in  his  estimation  require  it  (without 
interest). 

8th:  As  regards  the  legacy  of  two  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars  left  to  my 
daughter  Caroline  in  Article  4.,  upon  further  reflection  I  desire  that  it  bear  no  interest 
so  long  as  she  remains  on  the  plantation. 

9th :  I  will  and  bequeath  to  my  son  William  S.  all  the  residue  of  my  estate  both 
real  and  personal  of  ever\-  kind  and  description  requiring  him  to  pay  all  my  just  debts 
and  the  foregoing  legacies :  and  lastly,  I  do  hereby  appoint  my  son  William  S.  McCor- 
mick  executor  of  this,  my  last  will  and  testament,  written  on  a  sheet  of  letter  paper, 
and  respectfully  request  that  the  worshipful,  the  County  Court  of  Rockbridge  require 
no  security  of  him  for  his  executorship.  In  testimony  whereof  I  have  hereunto  set 
my  hand  and  affixed  my  seal  this  19th  day  of  June  in  the  year  of  our  Lx>rd  one  thou- 
sand eight  hundred  and  fortj^-six. 

Robert  M.  McCormick. 

Signed,  sealed  and  delivered  in  presence  of  us  who  have  signed  in  presence  of  each 
other. 

Note — ^The  alteration  of  the  word  two  to  four  in  the  third  page  and  eighteenth 
line  and  the  addition  of  the  words  'uithout  interest  in  the  19th  line  made  before  acknowl- 
edged. 

In  testimony  of  the  above,  I,  Robert  McCorm.ick,  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and 
afBxed  my  seal  this  tsventj'-second  day  of  June,  1846. 

Robert  McCormick  (seal). 

In  presence  of  us. 

Thomas  McCorn.ick, 

John  H.  Rush, 

Isaac  Hall. 

At  Rockbridge  Circuit  Superior  Court  of  Law  and  Chancery  September  iS,  1848. 

The  last  will  and  testament  of  Robert  ^IcConnick,  deceased,  was  proved  by  the 
oaths  of  Thomas  McCormick  and  John  H.  Rush  witnesses  thereto,  and  ordered  to  be 
recorded,  and  on  the  motion  of  William  S.  McCormick,  the  executor  therein  named, 
who  made  oath  thereto  and  without  security'  according  to  the  directions  of  said  will 
entered  into  and  acknowledged  his  bond  in  the  penalty  of  fifteen  thousand  dollars  con- 
ditioned according  law  directs,  certificate  was  granted  him  for  obtaining  a  probate 
of  the  said  will  in  due  form. 

Teste— Samuel  McH.  Reid,  Clerk. 


Chicago,  Ills.,  Sept.  12,  1910. 
This  is  to  certify  that  I,  R.  Hall  McCormick,  have  now  in  my 
possession  the  originals  of  the  following  named  letters  and  affidavits 
numbered  from  i  to  21,  inclusive,  and  that  the  following  are  copies 
of  same  and  are  true  and  accurate  copies  in  every  respect: 

1  Affidavit  of  Robert  McCormick,  dated  Feb.   18,   1879. 

2  Letter  of  Wm.  S.  McCormick,  dated  Nov.  7,   1878. 

3  Letter  of  Wm.  S.  McCormick,  dated  Nov.  7,   1878. 

4  Letter  of  Wm.  S.  McCormick,  dated  Nov.  23,  1878. 

5  Affidavit  of  Wm.  S.  McCormick,  dated  Jany.  5,  1880. 

6  Letter  of  C.  R.  McCormick,  dated  June  16,  1910. 

7  Letter  of  S.  Ellen  McCormick  Raney,  dated  June  16,  igio. 

8  Affidavit  of  Henrietta   M.    McCormick,   dated  Aug.  — ,    1898. 

9  Affidavit  of  Horatio  Thompson,  dated  Sept.  9,  1878. 

10  Affidavit  of  Zach.  J.  McChesney,  dated  Sept.  9,   1878. 

11  Affidavit  of  Thos.  S.  Paxton,  dated  Sept.  10,  1878. 

12  Letter  of  John  H.  B.  Shultz,  dated  Sept.  28,  1894. 

13  Letter  of  John  H.  B.  Shultz,  dated  Sept.   15,    1897. 

14  Letter  of  Henry  Schultz,  dated  Sept.  27,  1894. 

15  Letter  of  Thos.  H.  McGiiffin,  dated  Oct.  26,   1894. 

16  Letter  of  A.  Horace  Henry,  dated  Oct.  26,  1894. 

16  Letter  of  Wm.  Steele,  dated  Jan.  22,  1895. 

17  Letter  of  John  H.  Rush,  dated  Nov.  20,  1894. 

18  Letter  of  Jas.  E.  A.  Gibbs,  dated  May  31,  1899. 

19  Letter  of  Serena  McC.  Hogshead,  dated  Mch.  7,  1899. 

20  Aff.davit  of  Joseph  Anderson,  dated  Mch.  16,  1 881. 

21  Affidavit  of  Jame?  Hall  Shields,  dated  Sept.  12,  1910. 

R.  Hall  McCormick. 

Chicago,  111.,  Sept.  12,  1910. 
This  is  to  certify  that  I,  James  Hall  Shields,  have  now  in  my  pos- 
session the  originals  of  the  documents  hereafter  specified,  and  that 
the  succeeding  copies  are  true  and  accurate  copies  of  same: 

Letter  of  Wm.  Steele  McCormick  dated  Feb.  27,  1883. 
Statement  of  Mary  Caroline  Shields  dated  Jan.  17,  1883. 

James  Hall  Shields. 


B-T 


To  "Whom  It  May  Concern : 

This  is  to  certify  that  I,  William  Trautmann,  in  1894,  while  in  the  employ  of  Mr. 
J.  C.  Seyls,  then  proprietor  of  the  Chicago  Model  ^Vorks,  located  at  179  E.  Madison 
Street,  Chicago,  111.,  personally  constructed  a  number  of  models  for  Mr.  Leander  J. 
McCormick.  Some  of  these  models  were  constructed  from  Patent  Office  drawings,  and 
missing  parts  were  supplied  by  Mr.  McCormick,  and  the  others  were  built  from  in- 
structions given  by  him  personally.  Among  other  things  he  told  me  that  they  were  all 
inventions  of  his  father,  Mr.  Robert  McCormick.  These  models  consisted  of  two 
reapers  (made  and  invented  by  Robert  McCormick)  ;  two  different  kinds  of  hemp 
breaks;  one  water-power  (hydraulic)  engine;  one  stalk  cutter  with  a  peculiar  cam- 
shaped  horse-power  attachment ;  one  crushing  machine  with  horse-power  attachment, 
and  one  tub-shaped  bellows. 

On  January  12,  1909,  I  identified  the  models  in  the  office  of  Mr.  R.  Hall  Mc- 
Cormick, 145  La  Salle  Street,  Chicago,  as  the  original  models  referred  to,  and  which 
I  constructed  under  the  super\ision  of  Mr.  Leander  J.  McCormick,  and  the  photo- 
graphs of  same  (numbered  from  one  to  eight),  and  which  bear  my  signature,  I  certify 
to  be  photographs  of  the  original  models  above  referred  to,  and  which  are  now  in 
possession  of  Mr.  R.  Hall  McCormick,  at  his  office  above  mentioned. 

Witness  my  hand  and  seal  thi<  15th  day  of  January-,  1909. 

Wm.  Trautmann.       (seal) 

This  day  appeared  before  me  Mr.  William  Trautmann,  who  first  being  duly 
sworn  on  oath  states  that  he  has  read  the  foregoing,  and  that  it  is  correct  to  the  best 
of  his  knowledge  and  belief. 

Geo.  a.  Schmitt, 

Notary  Public. 
Jan.  15,  1909. 

To  "Whom  It  May  Concern : 

This  is  to  certify  that  I,  J.  C.  Seyl,  proprietor  of  the  Chicago  Model  Works  in 
1894,  located  then  at  179  E.  Madison  Street,  Chicago,  under  instructions  from  Mr. 
Leander  J.  ^IcCormick,  cau'^ed  to  be  constructed  the  models  referred  to  in  the  fore- 
going affidavit  signed  by  William  Trautmann,  and  that  said  William  Trautmann  was 
employed  by  me  at  that  time,  and  that  he  constructed  the  said  models  as  set  forth  in  the 
foregoing  instrument,  under  the  personal  supervision  of  Mr.  Leander  J.  McCormick, 
who  told  me  that  they  were  inventions  of  Mr.  Robert  McCormick,  his  father.  I  have 
identified  the  photographs  of  the  above  mentioned  models,  and  as  evidence  thereof,  I 
also  have  affixed  my  signature  to  each  of  said  photographs. 

Witness  my  hand  and  seal  this  15th  day  of  January-,  1909. 

J.  C.  Seyl.     (seal) 

This  day  appeared  before  me,  Mr.  J.  C.  Seyl,  who  states  on  oath  that  he  hasi  read 
the  foregoing  instrument,  by  him  subscribed,  and  that  it  is  correct  to  the  best  of  his 
knowledge  and  belief  and  that  he  knows  the  contents  thereof. 

Geo.  a.  Sch.mitt, 

Notary  Public. 
Jan.  15,  1909. 


^m^mim 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILUNOIS-URBANA 

Q,9,M131M  C003 

THE  LIFE  AND  WORKS  OF  ROBERT  MCCORMICK  I 


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